The Welsh band Super Furry Animals has done it again, creating an incredible work that blends innovative music with catchy pop tunes on their album Dark Days / Light Years. Super Furry Animals has been around since 1993, but has hardly made a splash on this side of the pond with any of their previous eight albums. And once again, this album will not resonate well with American listeners, on account of its unique sound and the expansive nature of the album. Super Furry Animals is certainly an acquired taste, but is well worth a listen for those inclined.
Dark Days / Light Years starts out the way that all good things should, with “Crazy Naked Girls,” a driving rock song that features guitarist Huw Bunford on vocals alongside lead singer Gruff Rhys. Bunford and keyboard player Cian Ciaran both play a larger part in the singing on this album than normal, creating a broader sound than in previous albums. In addition, Nick McCarthy of Franz Ferdinand is featured on the track “Inaugural Trams,” a Kraftwerk-inspired techno song where McCarthy raps. The track is incredibly catchy, much like its German predecessors, largely due to its simplicity and the fairly repetitive nature of the music it emulates.
Super Furry Animals also goes down a path of world music on the track “The Very Best of Neil Diamond,” which is less of a reimagining of “Cracklin’ Rosie,” but more of a post-apocalyptic theme accompanied by a saz, a type of long-necked lute from the Mediterranean. It’s an excellent example of what occurs when talented people try something new and actually make an incredible product.
They also demonstrate their knack for writing incredibly quirky and pleasant songs, specifically the tracks “Helium Hearts” and “Where Do You Wanna Go,” both of which have a very casual feel to them. Neither would ever be a chart-topper anywhere, but Super Furry Animals still delivers on each track.
Dark Days / Light Years also contains some standard fare for a Super Furry Animals album: the eight-minute epic and the Welsh songs. The epic comes in the form of “Cardiff in the Sun,” one of the vastest songs the band has ever done, with a thick wall of sound throughout. They also keep to their Welsh roots with the final two song, on the album, “Lilwiau Llachar” and “Pric,” which show just how cumbersome of a language Welsh can be.
In all, the album is made to be experienced as a sum of its parts, but not in an overly art house rock opera style. Rather, the music flows from song to song; creating a tapestry of sound that builds upon itself to make a thing of beauty.
