Funky futuristic fun
The first single from Super Furry Animals' new album, 'Lazer Beam' is one hell of a crazy, futuristic trip from a band renowned for being a little quirky- yetis on stage anyone? The stabbing vocals of the chorus sound like they're covered in shards of explosive sherbet that add to the infectious rhythm. Spaced-out guitars and humourous little howls (they obviously have yetis, or mutant wolves in space too) complete this mad electric little wonder.
It's an eclectic odyssey with sweeping strings that give a little nudge of 'prog', although even the album version only lasts a brief- in prog standards- five minutes. Beneath all the trickery, the lyrics also have some interesting little messages, although for the most part they're very repetitive, they also explain that we're going for a trip on a lazer beam to escape the wearisome human condition, "human beings, human doings, human error, human nature, human hate-ture." It's surprising to see such misanthropic comments hidden in such an upbeat tune, but the 'Super Furries' are great at doing the unexpected and adding eccentric little twists.