BADLY Drawn Boy, aka Damon Gough, returns next month with a soundtrack album to the film 'About A Boy'.

It's the first major release from the former Belmont singer/songwriter, since his million selling Mercury music prize winning, 'Hour of The Bewilderbeast'.

After becoming involved with the project at the request of Nick Hornby, author of the best-selling novel on which the film is based, Damon wrote the entire soundtrack, including eight new compositions and all the incidental music.

Damon explained: "I wanted to get on with my own record, but I met them (the film creators) and started to get a good feeling."

First offering from the new album was 'Donna and Blitzen', a limited edition seven-inch Christmas single, which sold out on the day of its release.

And also included on the new record are the forthcoming singles, 'Silent Sigh' and 'Something To Talk About'.

'About a Boy' stars Hugh Grant and Toni Collete alongside Rachel Weisz and is scheduled for release at the end of April.

On the writing front, Damon has already begun recording the follow up to 'Hour Of The Bewilderbeast' in Los Angeles.

Damon said: "I've got a clear picture of where the next record is going. I want to plug in the electric guitar a bit more. It's already feeling like a collection of songs that really work together."