Dark Days / Light Years

This is the Super Furries’ ninth studio album, but it has more spark and invention than most teen bands manage on their debuts. Dark Days/Light Years is their finest collection since 2003’s Phantom Power, a purple patch perhaps inspired by the band members’ dalliances in various solo projects: Neon Neon, Candylion, the Peth and Acid Casuals. At their best, they find the interface between exotic, arcane sounds and rich tunes; Crazy Naked Girls is a perfect nexus of melody and odd falsetto funk. The band find joy in repetition – as ever – in psych-rocker Prijk. Elsewhere, Nick McCarthy from Franz Ferdinand raps in German over Inaugural Trams, which has the buoyancy of a twisted kids’ TV theme. And, to further recommend it, there’s a track called The Very Best of Neil Diamond.