With their bizarre publicity photos, songs recorded in Welsh and, above all, that ridiculous name, it hasn't always been easy to take Super Furry Animals seriously. With six endearingly quirky albums now behind them, however, the Cardiff collective are arguably one of the very best British indie bands of the last decade. Perhaps they're tiring of the cartoonish image themselves, since Phantom Power is thankfully free of the techno experiments that marred so much of their previous work. Instead it's a highly polished affair, filled with the widescreen classic pop that Gruff Rhys and co. carry off so effortlessly. The sheer variety is dazzling; no two songs sound the same and everything from Burt Bacharach balladry to West Coast stoner-rock gets a look in. And while the anti-war lyrics suggest that the Furries are paying rather more attention to world events than previously, it certainly hasn't cost them their idiosyncratic sense of humour. If you haven't yet succumbed to the Super Furries' charm, then now would be a good time to plug this shameful gap.
