Super Furry Animals -Love Kraft

Thu 13th Oct, 2005 in Music Reviews

The yeti suits are gone. There are no songs about puppies. With Love Kraft, everything that made Phantom Power, Super Furry Animals’ last album, so novel is gone. None of these songs will make it to the O.C. soundtrack.

Maybe they’ve (finally) grown up. Maybe they’re sick of being known as “the band that sings that ‘don’t give a fuck’ song” or “the ones that wear the suits”. Who knows. Whatever their motives, Super Furry Animals’ latest release is tighter and smoother than previous efforts, while flowing coolly and casually from start to finish.

Such a move is pretty risky. On the one hand, a move away from the gimmicks and clichés is likely to go down well with the critics, but at the same time they’ve put a sizeable portion of their fanbase on the line. It’s not something totally new to the furries â€” with all of its lyrics in the Welsh language, 2000’s Mwng aimed to leave the cute and kitsch behind. In hindsight though, the move backfired, with the band’s linguistic giftings just another trick to add to their collection.

Smart move? The jury is still out, though the critics seem to be impressed. Where Phantom Power had its gimmicks, Love Kraft has hooks. Despite opener Zoom beginning with a ‘splash’ intro, the track quickly moves into a slow and steady groove with crunching guitars on the off-beat. After just a minute, you get the feeling this record will be about the music for once — the splash might even be the symbolic end of the Songbook era. Or maybe they just couldn’t resist one last chuckle.

The downside to this new direction is the lack of standout tracks. There are very few downright dull moments on Love Kraft, but making an album as catchy as previous efforts without references to puppies and excessive swearing was always going to be a tough task. In the early stages of the record, the rhythm section is strong and guitars and keys add colour, but very few moments really stand out. Apart from the whistles in The Horn, the first five tracks of Love Kraft get sucked into the groove and offer little more than pleasant background music, with very few (if any) of the lyrics sticking for more than a few seconds.

With Lazer Beam though, the album comes to life, proving there’s more to Love Kraft than a soundtrack to a hotel lobby. Lazer Beam’s samples give the album a much-needed kickstart and, along with Psyclone!, give it just enough to keep your attention until the end.

None of the tracks on Love Kraft will even reach the anthem status of The Man Don’t Give a Fuck but that was to be expected. The band’s fans will no doubt be divided over this record, but all baggage aside, this record marks a major turning point in Super Furry Animals’ career.