Super Furry Animals, Phantom Power (XL/Beggars) 9+
Super Furry Animals have six albums under their belt and they’re still the UK’s best-kept secret. It’s not for the lack of trying. 2001’s Rings Around The World was a big, flashy effort, buffed to sparkle and catch the eyes of a new audience. In retrospect, it did so only modestly, with longtime fans grumbling about recycled ideas and lack of enough killer songs. Good news, Phantom Power challenges 1997’s Radiator as the band’s all-time best batch of songs.
While the production is more down-to-earth, it retains the sonic experimentation, but imbeds it more subtly within the songs, rather than compromising the songs as showcases for fancy knob twiddling. There’s still plenty of sonic ambition. “The Piccolo Snare” packs more parts than “Bohemian Rhapsody,” with lush Beach Boys harmonies, psychedelic backwards masking, a gorgeous interlude with tinkling bells and Indian drones which seamlessly evolve into a glitch techno conclusion. The ascending melodies of “Hello Sunshine” is the most uplifting album opener in recent years, while “Liberty Belle” greets us with tweety birds, but all is not well. It turns out that amidst the sweet “woo woo” choruses, the birds are the alarms ringing in the trees while you’re “digging to hell/drowning in your oil wells.” A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, as they say. Puppies defend us from the devil (“Golden Retriever”), robots battle and screw (“Sex, War & Robots”), and pet turtles keep a lonely boy company who was raised by wolves (“Venus & Serena”). This imagery is no surprise coming from a band that regularly deals with Yetis and reptiles in their songs.
But hereafter, there are no fluffy bunnies to soften the impact of the increasingly darker lyrics. “Bleed Forever” deals with the consequences of a nuclear disaster in detail, to an achingly beautiful melody of course. “Out Of Control” is an incredibly powerful psychedelic rocker that reflects on the world’s hatred and madness, concluding with, “Bear it in mind/we are one kind/unrefined and/out of control.” “Cityscape Skybaby” lightens up with some lush ELO harmonies, while “The Undefeated” is a horn-driven soul/Caribbean number as The Specials circa ’84 might have done. The album concludes with “Slow Life” is a celebratory collage, a jumble of electronics and guitars, driven by an incessant melody and more dark sentiments, how rocks will outlast our corrupt civilization. With deep sentiments, smart turns of phrases, surprising sounds, catchy hooks and as many as ten potential singles, this is Super Furry Animals at the top of their game, and along with Radiohead, the very best the UK has had to offer in the last decade.
