O.K., it's not so much a comeback as it is a pleasant continuation of excellence. The Super Furry Animals were introduced to me waaaaay back when I was a music writer for the UIC Flame and the American label they had signed to was re-issuing some of their earlier work as a bonus disc inside Radiator. At least I think it was a bonus disc ... I just remember getting a whole bunch o' SFA in a short period of time around '97 or '98 and initially thinking "what the hell are these guys on?!" before falling under their abrasive psychedelic dance-rock and begging to "take whatever the hell those guys are on!"Since then I've seen the band a number of times -- the highlight had to be the Rings Around The World-era set at The Abbey where the band brought their own surround sound system into the house -- and they've never let me down. I've loved every disc they've put out, though it has not been lost on me that the group has stayed in a bit of a holding pattern musically since Rings.
Recently the band released their latest, Dark Days / Light Years, and break out of the comfortable line of flight they've been occupying in the last few years. It's a brash, impetuous piece of work,l slightly rough around the edges. It appears as if group members' solo work has burnished off a few of the layers of polish the band had grown accustomed to applying to group efforts with results that are more pleasingly organic. The results are still grand, but the band sounds more like the band I see onstage bashing out cheer inducing vertiginous rock and/or roll rather than the one that meticulously crafts each and every noise in the studio with tremendous care.
We see the paint splatters on the new work and it fills me with giddy glee.
You can buy Dark Days / Light Years right now on the band's site. The physical version comes out April 14 at iTunes and on CD, and on vinyl on April 21.
MP3: Super Furry Animals "Inaugural Trams"
Photo by Matt Wright
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