Celestial Candyfloss and French Electricity: Gruff Rhys Takes Another Leap Into The Unknown
Thursday, 25 January 2024
Written by Jeremy Blackmore
Photo: Mark James
Gruff Rhys’s career has been defined by a constant quest to explore, to discover how different environments can forge new sounds. That ongoing musical pursuit even extended to mastering his latest recordings in Paris to test a theory that electricity in different locations drives equipment in unique ways.
Those tracks make up ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’, the latest album in the former Super Furry Animals frontman’s wide and varied career. It’s been a 35-year journey taking in early days in Welsh language band Ffa Coffi Pawb to collaborating with artists as diverse as Boom Bip (as half of Neon Neon), Gorillaz, Mogwai and Paul McCartney, as well as writing the libretto for a Stephen McNeff opera.
In following up 2021’s ‘Seeking New Gods’, his first top 10 solo album, Rhys was intent on “capturing moments” in the studio. He recorded ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’ mostly live after honing the songs on a European tour. Just hours after stepping off stage in Dunkirk, his band set up in the historic La Frette Studios near Paris where they laid down the bulk of the album in a burst of activity over just three days.
The result is an album that opens gently, Rhys’s intimate baritone vocals to the fore before growing more widescreen and kaleidoscopic. The weeks on tour pay off with the performances sounding tight, yet giving the songs room to breathe as Rhys allowed his road-hardened band time to jam and experiment. It’s one of the most beautiful, clean-sounding records of his career, one he describes as comprising a sense of euphoric melancholy.
“I'm still trying to figure out how to make records,” Rhys says about what drives him to innovate and keep things fresh. “I'm still curious as to how different environments will affect the sound. I’ve been getting more into playing live in the studio and trying to capture moments. There's only so much I can do with my own voice. So, inevitably the records are going to sound similar. So, within that, within those limitations, I try to find ways of sounding different.
“The recording itself was very fast but we’d prepared for it for a few weeks. Whereas if we’d have gone to the studio fresh, with no preparation, it would have taken weeks. I made some crude demos of the songs, played them to the band and then we worked them out over a few rehearsals and a tour in Spain and France. Songs like Celestial Candyfloss got tight on tour and there's some quite intricate arrangements within the band on that song. I don't think that would have happened overnight.”
The choice of La Frette, a studio built in a beautiful late-19th-century mansion, which has played host to Marianne Faithful Nick Cave and Arctic Monkeys in recent years, was the suggestion of producer Maxime Kozinetz, who first met Rhys in 2020 when the pair worked on a record by Tuareg band Imarhan.
Rhys was particularly struck by how Kozinetz recorded Imarhan’s largely acoustic music, an approach he carried over to ‘Sadness Sets Me Free’. “He had the ability to record very low volume music and make it sound powerful,” says Rhys.
“That included the vocals, I didn't have to sing very hard. All the instruments are acoustic. It's a piano, double bass, drums and a string quartet. Well, I played some things live, a few guitars and I overdubbed some synths, but it’s mostly quite low volume stuff he's been able to make sound very powerful.”
Paris resident Kate Stables of This Is The Kit — whose last album ‘Careful Of Your Keepers’ was produced by Rhys — also lent her distinctive backing vocals. It’s clear Rhys is a big fan. “She's an incredible singer,” he says. “I really enjoyed getting to witness them make their album last year. That was a real treat. I learned so much from her. Her enthusiasm for music is incredible. It's very inspirational. She's got a wide community of musicians she plays with and she's an advocate for so many musicians and records.”
Ever a champion of Welsh musicians, Rhys later relocated recording to an old Scout hall in Cardiff where a quartet from the BBC National Orchestra Of Wales added strings and brass, with arrangements by long-time collaborator Gruff ab Arwel (of the band Bitw). Other old friends also added contributions, with Gavin Fitzjohn playing horns and Rhodri Brooks of Melin Melyn and AhGeeBe on pedal steel.
Intrigued by a conversation with the legendary, late mastering engineer John Dent, who posited that electricity drives equipment differently around the globe, Rhys took the files back to France to finish the album. Smiling at the memory, he says: “Yeah, I mean it's very hard to quantify how electricity drives machines differently, especially if you're using digital equipment; everything's in a laptop. It's hard for me to believe there's much variation from power supply to power supply, but it does maybe explain how, especially in the past, American power drove analogue equipment differently to the European power supply for example.
“Even if you're using the same equipment, it's not going to sound exactly the same. And just because I’d gone through the recording and mixing in Paris, it seemed apt I just master it there as well and check out French electricity! I mastered it with a guy called Chab, who's done a lot of Daft Punk records. So, I was in good hands. The vinyl was cut in Paris as well, so it's a very smooth sound.”
The album emerges into a troubled world and while the songs predate current global conflicts, the lyrics do not shy away from darkness and corruption. Ultimately, though, Rhys is a firm believer in music’s power to uplift and the record ends on a luminous chant, “And I’ll keep flying / not rehearsing to transcend”, that leaves the listener with hope.
“With this album, I gave myself the freedom to write sad songs and songs of complaint,” he says. “Because it can become an overly comfortable place to be, just to make complaints music. But I think there's humour and political frustration there as well to kind of counterbalance it and the music itself is quite upbeat and hopeful.
“I’m interested in music’s power to lift people and to bring people together. It ends on a kind of absurd, happy Sadness Sets Me Free mantra. But we're living through very, very sobering times. The album doesn't engage with it in particular, because…I mean, it's two years old. Hopefully it's timeless in that sense, it doesn't try and deal with particular situations, but I'm sort of relieved I'm not having to hype a very happy-go-lucky record in this horrific climate.”
I ask if writing lyrics help him make sense of the world around him. “I prefer writing lyrics to engaging with social media, for example,” he replies. “It's my preferred speed. I can't keep up with news cycles, but songwriting is something I can do at a lower speed and take my time over. I think it’s my favourite way of communicating.”
Rhys embarks on tour from late January with a week of record store appearances. He then plays Trawsnewid - Transform 2024 at Aberystwyth Arts Centre before kicking off a full band world tour with two dates at Kings Place in London. He will be joined once more by Kliph Scurlock on drums, Osian Gwynedd on piano and Huw V Williams on double bass with Gruff ab Arwel playing his string arrangements on a Mellotron and synths. Audiences can expect striking imagery from long-time collaborator and multi-disciplinary artist and graphic designer Mark James, depicting a shipping container lost in space amid that celestial candyfloss.
‘Sadness Sets Me Free’ is out on January 26 through Rough Trade.
Gruff Rhys Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri January 26 2024 - CARDIFF RWCMD
Sat January 27 2024 - NOTTINGHAM Rough Trade
Sun January 28 2024 - LEEDS Brudenell Social Club
Mon January 29 2024 - LONDON Rough Trade
Tue January 30 2024 - KINGSTON St Johns Church
Wed January 31 2024 - BRIGHTON Resident
Thu February 01 2024 - TOTNES Barrel House Ballroom
Fri February 02 2024 - ABERYSTWYTH Arts Centre
Wed February 07 2024 - LONDON Kings Place
Sat February 10 2024 - MANCHESTER New Century Hall
Wed February 14 2024 - BELFAST Empire Music Hall
Thu February 15 2024 - DUBLIN Sugar Club
Fri February 16 2024 - DUBLIN Sugar Club
Sat February 17 2024 - LIVERPOOL Arts Club
Mon February 19 2024 - GLASGOW Saint Luke's
Thu February 22 2024 - BRISTOL Bristol Strange Brew
Fri February 23 2024 - BRISTOL Bristol Strange Brew
Sat February 24 2024 - NARBERTH Narberth Queens Hall
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