How many of you really listened to the Flaming Lips before last year's Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots? Forget about the one isolated hit in the early '90s. For all intents and purposes of this discussion, most people didn't give the Lips much of a chance before Yoshimi.
And for some reason still unknown to me, The Soft Bulletin, the album preceding Yoshimi, went largely unnoticed despite its comparative brilliance. Who's to say why Yoshimi is the album that put the Flaming Lips on the map after 20 years of existence? But I foresee a similar destiny for the Super Furry Animals with its new release, Phantom Power.
The Welsh rockers, with a spacey pop sound similar to the Flaming Lips, coincidentally, have released six albums since forming in 1993. Its last album, Rings Around the World, received mild critical acclaim. Rolling Stone gave the album four stars, but none of its critics placed the album on their best of 2001 list. Overlooked, just like The Soft Bulletin.
All forced comparisons aside, Phantom Power may just be the album that makes those discerning reviewers take notice. Not only is it as strong as Rings Around the World, but it also pulls the band toward a more mature sound.
The opening track, "Hello Sunshine," starts off with a haunting sample from an obscure '60s girl group before surging into the warm vocals of Gruff Rhys, who softly sings "Hello Sunshine/Come into my life/In honesty it's been a while/Since we had reason to smile."
It's clear this album is a reflection on recent world problems and a reaction to the politics that have followed. On the bossanova-tinged "Liberty Belle," Rhys' deep vocals sound as though he's humming the lines "You know you're digging to hell/Drowning in your oil wells."
"Sex, War & Robots," despite providing another similarity, is worth mentioning for its use of steel pedal guitar and lush string arrangement.
Overall, Phantom Power is an album for the headphone listener; the same listener who owns a copy of Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots.
-- Reviewed by Bryan Farrell
