Super Furry Animals

Throughout their extensive career the Super Furry Animals have always been a band with the ability to move from the sublime (Demons) to the ridiculous (The Man Don't Give a F**k) with seamless ease. And that's not a bad thing. In regards to the quintet's latest, ‘Love Kraft', the same rule applies.

What has changed in the SFA camp? Well, now everyone is writing, Cian, Daf, Gruff, Guto, and Bunf have all had their say within the re-vamped SFA state of democracy. A good thing? In general yes. Recorded over three weeks in the Catalonian sunshine and subsequently mixed in a suburb of Rio de Janeiro, (it's a hard life) the psychedelic concoction all adds up to a gentle decadence across the span of the album. Strings, alongside the temporary dropping in of a 100 strong mixed Catalan choir are both present and correct.

Unsurprisingly then given the amount of musical cooks on ‘Love Kraft' a plethora of influences filter through. Within opening track, Zoom!, clocking in at a weighty seven minutes, traces of Portishead can be heard, as can arguably, the mellower riffing of their fellow countrymen, Stereophonics.
But right throughout the time-warp like proceedings, The Beatles, The Beach Boys, Plastic Ono Band (to name but some) are echoed in varying measure. The Fab Four are perhaps most clearly audible on The Horn while Brian Wilson and Co are layered liberally on the melancholic melodies of Ohio Heat, a tune dripping with West Coast ease.
The themes of the songs, as is the way of SFA, cover a multitude of topics. The aforementioned Ohio Heat, concerns itself with the plight of Salty Marine, a Welsh emigree coping with an unwanted pregnancy in the 19th century mid-west, while on Psyclone!, the band does its bit for animal welfare, at least for those of the Jurassic era. On the laid back groove, SFA urge a 63 million year old prehistoric caution to the dinosaur demographic, a tad late sure, but at least their hearts are in the right place.

‘Love Kraft' is an easy affair and one to be given attention. In parts it loses its pace but if its contents can be compartmentalised – on the one side are the instantly likeable tracks, while the other is a potentially replete section of ‘growers'. SFA animals may well have a minor classic on their hands.