Dreams can come true, nightmares can also

I’ve posted some Super Furry Animals here before, on account o’ I love them. I’ve seen them live more times than any other band – fourteen at last count. The shows were always brilliant, but ranged from the sublime (Especially the four in 1999 – at Glastonbury a tank drove through the crowd at the end, but incredibly it wasn’t their tank, and Mogwai were dressed as Chewbacca) to the very odd (like the time someone had to be lifted from the front of the moshpit in a stretcher, or when Gruff came out in a Power Rangers mask, or the celery chewin’, videos n’ surround-sound extravaganza of the ‘Rings Around the World’ years). Their last record, ‘Love Kraft’ began with the sound of a drummer diving into a swimming pool and featured a song about a chicken who worries about getting hit by asteroids. And they put out an album entirely in Welsh. There’s always been more to them, though, than just ‘mentals in helmets with lots of ideas and weird accents,’ because they actually have plenty of tunes-with-a-capital-T to back them up.

Their singer, Gruff Rhys, has a new solo album due out early next year called Candylion, and a couple of songs are available on these Internets. It’s not quite as low-key as his Welsh language record, but it’s definitely gentler than you might expect. NME write about the title track here, but it doesn’t really mean anything. Apparently, he’s playing in Buenos Aires on Saturday, so, uh, if anyone’s down for a road trip, let me know. Enjoy!

[download Gruff Rhys – Candylion]
[download Gruff Rhys – The Court of King Arthur]