Super Furry Animals

Super Furry Animals are...

• Gruff Rhys - vocals, guitar
• Huw Bunford - guitar
• Cian Ciaran - keyboards
• Guto Pryce - bass
• Dafydd Ieuan - drums

When attempting to describe the Super Furries, people usually end up having to compare them to the Super Furries. “This latest record is not as good as their second one”; “this record is a bit like the fourth one, but heavily influenced by the first one”; “I‘m heavily into the seventh one, but then I‘ve always been first-core“. This is basically because even their most average output is approximately 12.5 times better than any other band. Since the early 90s, they have been beaming out techno-acid-socialist-prog-indie-calypso-pop from their private universe in Wales, effortlessly different, never knowingly without the sunshine-laden tunes. They will make you smile. They might even make you think.

The Super Furry Animals coalesced in 1993, when singer Gruff Rhys and his cohorts Dafydd Ieuan and Guto Pryce ganged up with keyboard whizz Cian Ciaran and disgraced school teacher Huw Bunford. Originally a techno outfit (check out early effort Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwlllantysiliogogogoch (In Space)), the group gradually moved towards the more guitar-orientated side of the market, bothering the charts in 1996 with a string of singles from their debut album, Fuzzy Logic. Originally pigeonholed as the Welsh arm of Britpop, SFA quickly outgrew this frankly unlovable title with 97’s Radiator and 99’s Guerrilla, positioning themselves as Britain‘s leading purveyors of wonky leftfield pop. Although the stripped back Mwng got them a mention in the Welsh parliament for being entirely sung in their mother tongue, it was 2001’s Rings Around The World which truly put them on the mainstream map, reaching number 3 in the album charts and recruiting as well as splitting a good many fans with its widescreen sound.

Since then, 2003’s Phantom Power and 2005’s Love Kraft suggest a band blissfully set adrift on their own sea of whimsy and weirdness. They remain as politically uncompromising as ever, mind; members of the armed forces do not get their usual discount buying SFA’s albums, and they allegedly turned down a seven figure amount of money to soundtrack a worldwide Coca Cola advert, something that a number of other “alternative” rock stars should take note of.

Their live shows are also really, really great.