Gruff Rhys - Babelsberg

The Guardian 80

(Rough Trade)

Perhaps Gruff Rhys has suffered as a result of his reputation as one of pop’s eccentrics. His band Super Furry Animals were always willing to confound, and his solo career – this is his fifth album, plus the Set Fire to the Stars soundtrack – has appeared dictated as much by whimsy as foresight. That’s meant his love of melody is sometimes overshadowed by the novelty: cor, you’ll never guess what he’s done now!

So one might be forgiven for approaching Babelsberg with a certain amount of trepidation, especially given that the promo bumf includes such poptastic phrases as “state-sponsored murder”, “numbing helplessness”, and “I was working on an opera about a post-apocalyptic Wales”.

Pitchfork 78

The Super Furry Animals frontman has always been political, but he’s never sounded as spiteful as he does on this satirical portrait of the United States in 2018.