GRUFF RHYS
Candylion
Rough Trade
· Sadly, Candylions have been hunted to the verge of extinction for their prized cotton-candy manes.
Cynics beware – the second solo effort from Super Furry front man Gruff Rhys is every bit the confection its title implies. But Candylion excels because of that sweetness, not in spite of it.
"This is Just the Beginning" opens the disc with a burst of saw-toothed synthesizers that could comfortably introduce a children’s edutainment show from the mid-’80s, but as the track itself points out, it "isn’t a song." It’s more an attention grabber to keep you listening while the title track drifts in on a wave of glockenspiel and acoustic guitar that wouldn’t be out of place on a Boy Least Likely To single. Not everything’s pure whimsy, though. "Lonesome Words" is all Nick Drake fingerpicking and ghostly backing vocals, a bit of a downer, but the sort that still feels good deep down inside. And really, it’s necessary to balance out the unabashed pop of tracks like "Gyrru Gyrru Gyrru," one of two songs sung in Rhys’s native Welsh.
Then, half an hour in, the three-minute gems stop and the epic "Skylon!" takes over for the last third of the album. A 15-minute tale of airline terrorism, "Skylon!" is the sort of song that, on paper at least, should kill any momentum the album’s built. It doesn’t. Rhys’s songwriting is remarkably elegant, and what could have been an interminable slog is a wonderfully witty song that takes its shots at modern vices without resorting to preaching.
Instead, like the rest of the album, it takes all the best bits from ’60s psychedelia – the boundless creativity, the childish flights of fancy, the unrestricted, unironic glee – and brings them to life again.
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