By: Cyn Collins
 |
|
Super Furry Animals at the Fine Line - Photo by David de Young
|
Introducing a radical new vision:
No more imperial colonial bastards
No more romantic comedies
This is a fanfare introduction
To a high powered, purposeful theme.
--from “Laser Beam,” Love Kraft, Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals live shows are futuristic, full-body, outer space experiences. They feature layers of techno, electronica, supersonic bleeps, chitters and squeals, light beams, strings, old-school pop and rock guitar, mesmerizing harmonies, vocal manipulations and mantras, all accompanied by psychedelic videos.
There is so much going on in an SFA show the memories can linger for years. After I saw the band live for the first time a couple years ago, I couldn’t wait to see them again. Seeing them Monday at the Fine Line made me feel like a daydreaming child, but with a sophisticated and curious mind adults can’t see inside, like something out of Arthur C. Clarke's Childhood’s End or Orson Scott Card's Ender’s Game.
The Super Furry’s happy, la-la, “everything’s alright” melodies creep beneath the skin. Only once they’ve got their hooks in you do you hear the cynicism and wry, socio-political commentary. At first you think, “sounds like a nice love song;" listen deeper and you find the song is more about humanity and worlds lost. Clever puns and double-entendres abound: “I can’t get enough of it / Kiss me with Apocalypse / An instant hit.” Perfect. Their plausible near-future speculations remind me of those in Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. But they’re funnier.
The Super Furry Animals took the stage in absinthe-green lit fibre-optic bio-hazard suits with hoods and facemasks, looking like a super-radiated post-apocalyptic clean-up crew and spacemen at the same time. The geometric giant-screen videos created an eerie blue-green glow over the stage and crowd which further heightened the transcendental outer space/ocean depths/volcanic inner-body, out-of-mind experience.
 |
|
Gruff Rhys of Super Furry Animals - Photo by David de Young
|
The Welsh are legendary for possessing “golden throats” and for being some of the best poets (Dylan Thomas, Robert Graves) and musicians (John Cale, Julian Cope, Tom Jones), and Super Furry's frontman Gruff Rhys is no exception. Rhys has a wide vocal range and a fluidity he manipulates like an instrument. He moves from wolf-like vocalizations howling keeningly to growling low and gruff. His vocals pull you in, and at the same time call up poignant melancholy. At times he sings into a special mike making his voice sound alien and mechanical. The range of styles is even more amazing live than on CD.
The Super Furries played crowd favorites, many from Rings Around the World. Featured were “Golden Retriever,” “Hello Sunshine,” and “Run! Christian Run!” juxtaposed with songs from new, more orchestral, "out there" CD, Love Kraft, a venture into the sci-fi realms, and the first written by all the band members.
Rhys’ friendly banter was a also a key aspect of the show, for example, when he gave detailed instruction on how to clap: “See you have two hands? You raise them, like this. See? And put them together, like this.” (Does awkward clap.)
Rhys announced “a song in five parts,” “Receptacle for the Respectable,” with a deceptively Beach Boys-like sunny-sounding verse:
Welcome as a storm cloud in the late December gloom
Subtle as a nail bomb in the head
You came to me in peace
and left me in pieces.
Then the band plunged into a death metal grunge-fest, a serious-looking and hooded Rhys munching on a bunch of celery (funny!) for sound effects. (As a bit of trivia,Paul McCartney chewed the carrots on the Rings Around the World album).
A true show highlight was the customary encore: audio of Bill Hicks, “All governments are liars and murderers,” with those words large on the video screen juxtaposed with war atrocities and ludicrous images of Bush, Cheney and Blair. This led into the song “They Don’t give a Fuck about Anybody Else,” which repeats those lyrics over 50 times, chanting, cajoling, angry, with R & B female background vocals. “Dooon’t Give a Fuck! Give a fuck, give a fuck!”
The Super Furries left the stage after about 10 minutes of this, with film scenes of themselves and credits, and a couple minutes of video of Minneapolis, (I can’t believe they did that!) with the message “Thank you and Goodnight . . . and to you the good people of Minneapolis!”
Band Members:
Cian Ciaran
Dafydd Ieuan
Gruff Rhys
Guto Pryce
Huw Bunford
Location Info:
Fine Line Music Café
Artist Info: Super Furry Animals
Share this story:
Article comments powered by Disqus