Super Furry Animals - Love Kraft
[Epic]

Seven albums in to their career and the Super Furry Animals hyperactive imagination still shows no sign of waning. Recorded in Catalonia and mixed in Rio De Janeiro ‘Love Kraft’ is a record that bears all the hall marks of the environment in which it was created, there is a definite air of laidback melancholy that hangs over the record like a heavy summer evening. It’s also worth noting that, despite the shared vocal duties, this is the most cohesive album the band has yet produced, with some of the genre hopping of previous records abandoned in favour of achieving an overall feel.

This is not to say that the Super Furry Animals have sacrificed their spirit of musical exploration, this still abounds, although now in a slightly subtler guise. Though the record has a universal atmosphere, the actual sound is still diverse. Therefore you get the world weary and understatedly epic ‘Atomic Lust’ (sung by Drummer Daf) that sounds like it’s haunted by the ghost of ‘Surfs Up’ era Beach Boys, nestling next to the slightly inebriated, folky stomp of ‘The Horn’. Sound wise they couldn’t be more different, but neither detracts from the vibe of the album.

The string flourishes, which come courtesy of The High Llama’s Sean O’Hagan, also contribute to this newfound air of unity, nowhere more so than on the albums two standout tracks, ‘Frequency’ and ‘Cloudberries’. On the formers cosmic groove-along, O’Hagan’s swooping strings add a classic soul flavour to Gruff’s sugarcoated attack on the powers that be, proving that although the sound has mellowed, the group’s anti-establishment stance remains. On ‘Cloudberries’, the albums most ambitious moment, a song split into three parts, which incorporates ambient piano balladry, lush, organic funk and massed choral harmonies, the string flourishes add elements of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds Of Love to the mix.

It is perhaps inevitable that this will be seen as the Super Furry Animal’s coming of age album, the sound of a band that has now ‘grown up’ musically, due to it’s melodious feel and epic scope. Whether or not this is the case, and judging by previous efforts it seems more likely that they will take a totally new direction for their next effort, this is arguably their most accessible record so far. The chances are that they have now given up hope of the mainstream success that eludes them, despite the fact that, as they have proved once again with this album, they are the best pop band of the last ten years.