Quite why Super Furry Animals have never affixed themselves to the hearts of our nation like the fuzzy magnets of psych/folk-pop magic they clearly are is a mystery of Cheops-like scale. Yes, they once recorded an album entirely in Welsh (‘Mwng’, from 2000), but the skewed loveliness, lightness of touch, unforced adventurism and rampantly diverse interests revealed in their songs sets them head and shoulders above most of their peers and should by now have secured them keys to the realm.
Gruff Rhys can claim most of the credit for SFA’s cherishability and his prolificness has already produced one solo album of bittersweet pop, ‘Yr Atal Genhedlaeth’, released a year ago almost to the day. Now, the follow-up – and it’s hard to imagine a warmer and more sincerely expressed welcome to the new year. From its Pearl & Dean-styled, retro-futurist synth intro (‘This Is Just The Beginning’) to epic closer ‘Skylon!’ – in which Rhys (who imagines himself as a bomb disposal expert) unpacks a fictional skyjacking detail by tiny detail – these ‘11 songs for acoustic guitar and voice’ dazzle and delight.
Rhys’s love affair with music and impeccable (broad) taste are crucial, as are the skills of long-term SFA producer Gorwel Owen and, although Welsh-language folk-pop veterans such as Meic Stevens and Huw Jones loom large, ‘Candylion’ is by no means an homage. Alongside Syd Barrett, Nick Drake, Focus, Pentangle, Fairport Convention et al, Rhys summons the spirits of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Sergio Mendes, De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest, Dave Brubeck, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Wings, Stevie Wonder, 10cc, Juan García Esquivel and…‘The Magic Roundabout’. Stylistically promiscuous it may be, but ‘Candylion’ doesn’t put a paw wrong. Even the duet sung in Patagonian Spanish (with 9Bach’s Lisa Jen) works a treat. Sweet, brave and fanciful as its title suggests, it’s already a contender for album of the year.
