It takes a certain commendable creative spirit to soldier on releasing albums under your own name when you already front a perfectly successful band that spits out songs with more idiosyncrasy and invention than most groups muster in a lifetime. Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys is clearly a man whose default setting away from work is work. When not toiling away on side-projects, collaborations, film scores, TV and film production, “psychedelic travelogues,” or playing sporadically with SFA; Rhys manages to put out great solo albums every few years. The prolific singer, guitarist, and songwriter will release his latest record on Rough Trade on June 8.
Featuring orchestration by celebrated composer and fellow Welshman Stephen McNeff and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Babelsberg is Rhys’ fifth solo album and marks his triumphant return to the Rough Trade label, who released his pop roar Candylion in 2007. The album is available on CD, DL, standard LP, and a very special deluxe 12” x 24” holographic panoramic vinyl package, limited to 500 copies. Pre-order ‘em all here and watch Rhys the eco-dreamer in the string-laden, Lee Hazelwood-esque “Frontier Man” video below.
Babelsberg tracklisting:
01. Frontier Man
02. The Club
03. Oh Dear!
04. Limited Edition Hearts
05. Take That Call
06. Drones in the City
07. Negative Vibes
08. Same Old Song
09. Architecture of Amnesia
10. Selfies in the Sunset
Gruff Rhys live:
06.10.18 - Cardiff, UK - Donald Gordon Theatre, Wales Millennium Centre
06.13.18 - London, UK - Rough Trade East
08.30-09.02.18 - Salisbury, UK - End of the Road Festival
09.12.18 - London, UK - Barbican Centre
09.15.18 - Manchester, UK - Royal Northern College of Music
09.16.18 - Manchester, UK - Royal Northern College of Music
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