Gruff Rhys - Hotel Shampoo

Gruff Rhys might be better known as the frontman of brilliant and barmy Welsh psych-folk veterans Super Furry Animals but he is also growing quite the reputation as a solo artist. Excitingly, his third record, named after and inspired by his unfortunate habit of hoarding mini shampoo bottles and other complimentary hotel products whilst on tour, might just be his best yet.

Quintessentially Gruff Rhys, Hotel Shampoo opens with the kaleidoscopic Shark Ridden Waters, which sets the tone for the rest of the album, as a perky melody bounces along while the Welshman delivers a whimsical vocal. Next, Honey All Over cleverly contrasts a downbeat tale of failed love with plinky-plonky instrumentation and a gentle, catchy chorus. “Cos maybe she dug you/But she never loved you,” he sings softly. Spirits are lifted by Sensations in the Dark, a mariachi romp through brass, while, elsewhere, there is a cute duet with El Perro Del Mar and also subject-matter which deals with heavyweight issues such as eco politics and inequality. Of course, it’s all done in the typically leftfield way that you would expect from one of the creative forces behind Super Furry Animals, as faint touches of electronica mix with plenty of folky elements, some underplayed experimentation and lyrics that are equally fanciful and emotive.

Gruff Rhys' voice is as warm and unique as ever, as Hotel Shampoo manages offer many diverse, interesting elements while still being coherent and sounding like an album rather than a collection of songs. By the time strings soar through At The Heart Of Love at the back end of proceedings, you should have long-since fallen in love with this charming record.

Super Furry Animals - Dark Days/Light Years

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS
Dark Days/Light Years

One guesses that, if they wanted to, Super Furry Animals could fill stadiums. For 13 years they have effortlessly penned the kind of rock/pop melodies that most bands would kill for, yet have always had an edgier, playful side that sees them do what the fuck they want with flagrant disregard for commercial success. Three-minute ballads invariably have five-minute techno freakouts bolted on the end of them, some of their songs are sung exclusively in Welsh and, when Paul McCartney appeared on one of their previous albums, they chose not to have him singing, but simply crunching celery into a microphone.

And so it is no surprise that their 9th studio album, Dark Days/Light Years, is another slice of unhinged genius. Crazy Naked Girls, a six-minute pysch-jam with dance sensibilities, opens the record and Pric, a similarly sprawling effort, ends it. Twixt the two, Inaugural Trams features Nick McCarthy from Franz Ferdinand rapping in German. Like many of SFA’s ideas, it sounds ridiculous, and shouldn’t work, yet it does, brilliantly. Elsewhere, the record bursts with straightforward pop gems, like the Jim Noir-esque Where Do You Wanna Go? and the massive chorus of Helium Hearts, during which front man Gruff-Rhys’ vocal soars alongside strings.

Bouncing between beautiful, melodic pop and delightful insanity, Dark Days/Light Years is SFA’s best record since 2001’s Rings Around The World and is perfectly representative of a prolific body of work that makes them one of the most inventive and intriguing bands that Britain has ever produced.