Welsh Band Returns With New Pop Album: “Dark Nights Light Years” by Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh pop band who draw comparisons with Flaming Lips, Beck, and Kraftwerk, among others. But their style is made unique by their combination of heavy guitars, tricked out effects, melodic vocals,a nd psychedelic buzz. While their last two releases were pretty mellow, this new one called “Dark Days Light Years” is decidedly groovy.
As usual, the SFA employ a lot of repetitious sounds, hoping to gain mind control of their listeners through hypnosis. Dark Days/Light Years is a kaleidoscopic of sounds and styles, ranging from funky dance beats to thick guitar laden powerhouse ballads. Even if you had never heard of the Super Furry Animals in your whole life, you could easily unknowingly be drawn in by seeing this album at a local record shop. The album cover heavily emulates the sixties psychedlia of the Beatles’ Yellow Submarine, while track titles like Crazy Naked Girls and the Very Best of Neil Diamond are simply too enticing to resist!
“The Very Best Of Neil Diamond” sounds like Diamond was discovered in Bollywood with a sitar. I can just imagine the video with sitars and bellydancers. This and other tracks on the album live up to the quirkiness of their titles.
Another track, Lliwiau Llachar sounds like The Beach Boys on even more acid. If the Beach Boys had ever had a really Sgt. Pepper period, this track would have been on it. The track would also be great for old horror films. While the young teenagers danced and played, enjoying a psychedelic romp at the beach, this track would be playing. With it’s dramatic guitar riffs, the album’s first track, Crazy Naked Girls, would be perfect for the part of the movie where the monster comes out of the water to eat the teenagers.
Track two is “Mt.” This is the Super Furry Animals’ take on psychedelic folk music! No matter what these guys do, it comes out right – no false notes (no pun intended.) After all these years, they have perfected this kind of psych-pop. It’s the sure cure for musical boredom and record collection stagnation.
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