Gruff Rhys – Babelsberg
(Rough Trade Records)
Reviewed by Emily Lipsys.
At a first listen to Gruff Rhys’ 5th solo album, you could have sworn you had been whisked back into a musical movie soundtrack from the 1960’s. The former frontman of Welsh indie rock band, Super Furry Animals, has a magical way of intertwining his quirky and interesting pop songs with current themes of today, all while being accompanied with a swirling orchestra. And it works!
The 10 tracks of this album were originally recorded in 2016 over a three day session with some of his musical friends who have joined in making music with Rhys over the years. This included: Kliph Scurlock (ex-Flaming Lips) and multi-instrumentalists Stephen Black (Sweet Baboo) and Osian Gwynedd. Adding the finishing touches to the album was Swansea based composer Stephen McNeff who wrote all of the orchestral scores, which were brought to life by the amazing and talented 72 piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales. As all good things take time, 18 months down the track Babelsberg was now complete.
Throughout each piece Rhys manages to document our troubled and troubling times with humour, grace and always addictive melody. One of the songs that stood out to me were Drones in the city. It starts out with a beautiful orchestral intro, and continues on a slow and steady pace accompanied by Rhys’ unique vocals. The lyrics touch on how much things around us can change so fast, and at the time it can seem crazy-but after a while it just becomes the norm, and we can become complacent. We can sometimes stop questioning things.
“Drones in the city
Sitting pretty in the sky above me
Drones in the country
Bear so differently to those in the city
And once it calls my name
I’ll never see your face again”
Selfies in the Sunset-is the duet that closes the album featuring Lily Cole. This brings up thoughts on the importance humanity can put on technology, social media, and their image and getting things perfect, all while things aren’t so perfect in the world around us and mushroom clouds are towering above.
“World champions of despair
You may wonder why I care
Apocalyptic mushroom clouds
Tower above us, I think aloud
No silver linings, this is the end
Get your phone out to document
Selfies in the sunset
Won’t get you many likes…”
With every listen, I grow more fond of each song. It is an album that will need more than one listen, and then once the musical seed is planted it will grow on you. In a career that’s spanned three decades, two languages, multiple bands, offshoots, collaborations and one boundless imagination, Babelsberg is Gruff’s finest set of songs to date.
If you enjoyed this content, please consider donating towards the running of Ambient Light, covering expenses and allowing us to expand the coverage you love by clicking the red button below or visiting our PressPatron page.