Super Furry Animals - 'Phantom Power' (Epic)
3/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Released amid a flurry of groundbreaking technological tie-ins (mobile phone downloads, simultaneous DVD launches), the Super Furry Animals' never-ending quest for innovation remains a remarkable commodity. But, in spite of this, 'Phantom Power', the Welsh quintet's seventh album is in fact also their most relaxed to date.
Hazy, Beta Band-esque brass accompaniments and laidback Gorky's Zygotic Mynci-style folk dominates the album, and whilst the music may be mellow, but the lyrics address some characteristically weighty themes; the futility of war ('The Piccolo Snare'), Communist uprising ('Cityscape Skybaby') and even the post-Chernobyl radiation fallout that affected North Wales in the mid-80s ('Bleed Forever.').
Amid it all, there's still room for The Beach Boys-themed summer-pop of 'Liberty Belle', the sleazy garage-rock of 'Out Of Control' and the booming, Glam pound of first single 'Golden Retriever'. And whilst 'Phantom Power' doesn't reach the dizzy heights of the genre-defining, career-best 'Radiator' LP, music created by a band with as imaginative and interesting a track-record as SFA is always a most welcome thing indeed.
Artists in this article: Super Furry Animals
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