Phantom Power

by

Super Furry Animals

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SFA has done it again. Phantom Power is their 6th album (7th if you count Outspaced), and it's as enjoyable as anything they've done to date. If you're familiar with their back catalog, you know that's saying a lot.

Stylistically, they're still all over the place, from riff-rock to Byrds-esque country-tinged ballads, acoustic folk with a brass section, exuberant freak-outs, techno blips, straight-ahead britpop - just to name a few examples. The lyrics are mostly allegorical commentary on the present state of the world, delivered in Gruff Rhys's deep and dynamic Welsh-accented voice.

According to the band's website, the "Phantom Power" is "a sinister power source that controls the world from beyond people's comprehension. And a lot of things that go on today seem completely illogical and I think we watch the world go by with disbelief."

But the album isn't all doom and gloom. The first single, "Golden Retriever", and in particular the excellent "Valet Parking", an ode to the road, are fun and happy and summertime.

Despite the eclectic mix of styles, the album is very cohesive as a whole, soaked in a lush, psychadelic mood. The tracks are sequenced well, and the mix benefits from the assistance of Mario Caldato (you might remember the Beastie Boys saying "at the boards is the man they call the Mario").

Start to finish, easily one of the best albums of 2003 so far. Not a second of filler anywhere. If you already like SFA, you should have this album. If you've never heard them before, this is as good a place to start as any.

The Furries scale back the orchestral overhaul of their last effort for a more simplistic and natural sound on Phantom Power. But the effort occasionally suffers from snippets of glumness and slurring noise in the vocals. Maybe it's the Vedder disease, but considering how beautifully melodic a lot of these songs are, Gruff Rhys' energy seems exhausted, like he's going through the motions.

"Hello Sunshine" is sprightly, but sounds too pleading from the singing. "Golden Retriever" is a fine single and very catchy, but Rhys is simply marble-mouthed. Those sorts of vocals served them in the past (witness "Shoot Doris Day"), but not when they seem to be leaning more to New Pornographers than Beck/Blur. Luckily, they manage more than enough good moments to almost make up for it. "Slow Life" is a striking epic closer, "Out of Control" pulses with the energy lacking elsewhere, and "Piccolo Snare," while a bit lyrically obvious, contains joyous highs that are otherwise in short supply. But after the high of Rings (and knowing they'd stumble even deeper on Love Kraft) this is a band on the fast decline struggling to remain afloat.

Best cuts: "Slow Life," "Out of Control," "Golden Retriever," "The Piccolo Snare," "Valet Parking," "Liberty Belle," "Venus and Serena"