Badly Drawn Boy, Promises

This live favourite and third single to be lifted from Born in the UK comes complete with resplendent piano and strings to stand as a bona-fide classic BDB ballad. Really, when the 'Boy is on form, he makes writing meaningful love songs sound as easy as ABC. Though, as with most of his songs concerning affairs of the heart, things aren't as straightforward as they first appear: what begins as a simple testament of longing and dewy-eyed devotion ends up mixing uneasily with bittersweet suggestion and ambiguity to make a tearjerking contender for one of the singles of the year so far. [Barry Jackson]