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Super Furry Animals

Written by Graham Lynch

Thursday, 11 October 2007

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It seems odd to talk about where the band is going when, in reality, they just got here with their latest record, Hey Venus, a beaming, West Coast Pop infused album, that somewhat downplays their more recent extravaganzas in favour of straight up melodic song-crafting. “We all love the Beach Boy’s,” Cian says. “They’re probably one of the few constants that all members can agree on. When we were rehearsing and writing for Hey Venus we had maybe 25 songs. During the process we noticed there was more pop songs then anything else. It’s just the way it works out…we’re always learning and looking to introduce each other to new sounds, but when the time comes to finish a record, we do look for some sign of cohesion, something that joins the record together.”

If Hey Venus is a more refined, less bombastic and radical offering from the Super Furry Animals, at least in musical terms, the circumstances surrounding the making of the album did herald some significant changes. Recorded, for the first time, by David Newfeld, best known for his work with Broken Social Scene, in studios in Wales and France, Hey Venus also differs from a visual aesthetic, with long time collaborator and Pete Fowler fulfilling a pact made with the band. It is the first SFA album not to be graced with his work in the past six releases. “We made a pact with Pete some years back, that he would do all our art for 10 years. Those 10 years were up and we let Pete off to do other things. We’ve been fortunate enough though to have cult Japanese artist Keeichi Tanaami do the artwork for Hey Venus. There has got to be some level of trust when you work with someone, and we had that with Pete. It’s the same when picking an engineer or a producer. They tend to act as neutrals when it comes to making our records. They have the knowledge and experience and they end up acting as a referee during the process.”

With a new artist on board, a new producer in the recording seat and a new label putting their records out, it would appear things have indeed changed substantially for the Super Furry Animals. But their thirst for new music remains and their desire to continue making interesting and progressive records remains intact, a fact underlined by the bands plans for the future and their ongoing solo projects. “We’ve all got our own things going says Cian, whose Acid Casuals project remains low-key, in part due to time constraints, but remains a satisfactory output for the avid techno follower. We’re also looking at doing some orchestral work with (British composer) Charles Hazelwood, which might form part of work we want to do on producing two albums simultaneously. And we’re already looking at our ninth album, with the material that wasn’t ready for Hey Venus.”

All of which begs the question; what’s left for the Super Furry Animals to do? “Well,” Cian says, before pausing for thought...”musically it’s never ending, there’s always changes an it’s constantly inspiring, and as long as that’s the case we’re going to keep on doing this.”

The Super Furry Animals play the Savoy Theatre on Monday, October 15, with support from Jim Noir.

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