Tag: Slow Life

I first heard this song as a bootleg, downloaded from some site ahead of the release of Phantom Power back in… what, 2002? 2003? And I remember thinking, at the time, that this really was the ultimate Super Furry Animals song – It’s got the trad band bit, with the harmonica and the electronic piano and the guitars and drums with Gruff singing sweetly over the top (Even if what he’s actually singing is somewhat less than sweet: “I see/Televisions/Pretty pictures/Of starvation,” he sings at one point, almost making it sound an attractive proposition. Also, “I see fractures/I see fragments” remains one of my favorite lines of anything, ever), as well as the techno breakdown and the 1970s retro moment and everything that the band does so well. As a song, it’s a wonderful journey, evolving from the sampled circus sounds at the start to the glamorous, Bond theme-esque strings at the end that fall apart, drip into nothingness. In many ways, it was all downhill for the band from here – Certainly, the next album, Love Kraft, was a disappointment when compared to Phantom Power – but, really, what an incredible way to go out.