Splassssshhhh! As befits the Super Furry Animals, their seventh studio album begins, in Gruff Rhys’ words, with “the sound of us jumping into a pool”. In the course of their 10-year career, they’ve done weirdly wonderful, they’ve done ballads, they’ve gone haywire. After that, where else is there to go?
In order to breathe new life into the outfit, the five members of the group temporarily parted company and set to work on their respective solo projects (who can forget Gruff Rhys’ sweetly shambolic set of gems released earlier this year?). As opposed to sounding the death knell for the outfit (as if often the case), these solo projects only served to enliven the band as a whole. Invigorated, they vowed to make a “Brazilian sounding record”. Their latest opus, brimming as it is with energy, ideas and creativity, sounds all the better for it. But thankfully, there’s nary a samba beat within earshot.
For a start, Love Kraft is the result of more involvement from various band personnel, as it features songs by each member (save for bassist Guto Pryce). Gruff relinquishes his role as the band’s sole singer as Bunf assumes vocal duties for ‘The Horn’ and Daf takes the reins for ‘Atomic Lust’.
Recorded with Mario Caldato (of Beastie Boys fame) in Spain and mixed in Brazil, there’s little denying that Love Kraft oozes sunny, feel-good vibes. Nothing new there, then, expect for the fact that the spontaneity that has always marked the band has given way to somethin more thoughtful and intricate.
There’s certainly a touch of the disco-rock opera to Love Kraft; ‘Zoom!’, with its horn section and 100-strong backing chorus, is an arms-outstretched, lighters-aloft beauty blessed with an ambitious texture and anthemic hook, while ‘Walk You Home’ is almost Bond-like with its dream-like, slick veneer. ‘Frequency’, laden with summery strings, is little short of a masterpiece.
Though the album is arguably their most mellow and expansive to date, there's a nod to the band’s mischievous, popadelic days of yore. ‘The Horn’ is a playful, Beatles-esque ditty littered with barely-there electronic loops and shrieks, while the forthcoming single ‘Lazer Beam’ boasts a nicely retro bent and is destined to be a future crowd-pleaser – despite its questionable, Top Gear-ish riff. As for the gaggle of crazy voices on the Portuguese-language track ‘Oi Frango’ well, surreal doesn’t quite begin to describe it.
In all, Love Kraft appears to be the band’s most organic, thoughtful album to date. That’s not to say, however, that it’s not a hell of a lot of fun. Just goes to show you; five crazy songwriting heads are better than one.