Super Furry Animals make a welcome return for their first L.A. shows since 2008 (above photo of Gruff Rhys from that show at Echoplex, full photo set here) playing a pair at The Roxy this Thursday, February 11th and Friday, February 12th.

Following a five-year hibernation, the Wales band returned last year to mark the 15th anniversary their excellent Welsh language Mwng album (Spotify player below.) They came out of the mid 90’s Britpop halcyon days, though across their nine albums they ultimately ended up sharing little in common with peers from that era, with an eclectic sound that is hard to pin down simply.

Always having a prankster’s cheekiness about them and a quirky hallucinogenic visual style, they blend genres, from heavy rock to mellow AOR to baroque pop, throwing electric, acoustic and electronic instrumentation, even Steely Dan samples into the mix. Their live shows were fun multimedia affairs incorporating synced videos and, often, Yeti costumes. All this gets them tagged with “psychedelic” label (and in fact are appropriately playing this year’s Austin Psych Fest, which has smartly been rebranded as Leviation) though that tag is hardly adequate. They ultimately only sound and look like themselves, a mark of our most worthwhile artists.

Tickets
Super Furry Animals @ The Roxy February 11, 2016
Super Furry Animals @ The Roxy February 12, 2016

Super Furry Animals | superfurry.com

Side rant: Super Furries’ discography represents one of the more annoying gaps in the Spotify catalog, with all of their albums prior to 2007 apart from Mwng completely absent. Unless this is the band’s own choice, someone dropped the ball on this.