For a territory only slightly larger than New Jersey, Wales has done pretty well for itself. Besides having its own language, flag, and cultural heritage, Wales has given the world Tom Jones, Richard Burton, and the world's longest-named train station, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantisiliogogogoch. Damn!
For a place with so much to its name, Wales' music has gone relatively unnoticed, until recently. As bands like the Manic Street Preachers and Super Furry Animals gain in popularity, the new "Cool Cymru" is drawing worldwide attention. Apparently, record executives scouting in the UK now spend as much time searching for new talent in Wales as they do in the rest of Great Britain. Super Furry Animals hold a special place among the new wave of hip Welsh bands. Whereas bands like Gorky's Zygotic Mynci and Catatonia might as well be English, Super Furry Animals have always shown an affinity to their native language, demonstrated by the occasional lapse into the Celtic tongue on past albums. Mwng (pronounced "moong") is the result of two weeks, £6000, and a bunch of Welsh-language songs Super Furry singer Gruff Rhys has been writing since the band's conception in 1995. The result is a charming batch of stripped-down rock songs that isn't as fully realized or inventive as last year's Guerrilla, but still makes a damned enjoyable listen.
Mwng's opening track, "Drygioni," may very well be its weakest moment. On Guerrilla, Super Furry Animals milked seamless pop songs to their full potential with ingenious electronic arrangements-- "Drygioni" feels almost forced. But the album quickly redeems itself with "Ymaelodi \xC2'R Ymylon," a charming pop ditty complete with acoustic and electric guitars and overdubbed vocal harmonies. It's a summery pop song with all the trimmings, but it lacks the optimistic energy that made Guerrilla's poppier tunes so great. Mwng's high point, though, comes with "Ysbeidiau Heulog," a decidedly retro number that combines the swingin' sounds of the '60s with some high-tech vocal effects. It's easy to see why "Ysbeidiau Heulog" was chosen as the first single from an album that's already reached #11 on the UK charts.
The North American edition of Mwng comes with a bonus CD (called Mwng Bach), which consists of six tracks that are, strangely, every bit as good as the bulk of Mwng, if not better. Why the band didn't replace weaker tracks like "Drygioni" with obviously stronger outtakes such as "Sali Mali," we'll never know.
As far as I'm concerned, Mwng isn't Super Furry Animals' true follow-up to Guerrilla. The fact that these songs have been around for so long, and the fact that the band didn't put too much time or money into the record, suggests that Mwng might be better regarded as a prequel to the band's other three records, like Chuck Norris in "Missing in Action II: The Beginning." Mwng's relative strength as a record demonstrates Rhys' talent as a songwriter, but also demonstrates how much Cian Ciarân's electronic wizardry enhanced the band's other records.
The lack of time and energy put into Mwng seem to have detracted from the fleshing-out of the album's better tunes, surely making it somewhat more difficult to create the kind of all-out pop masterpieces found on Guerrilla. Of course, Super Furry Animals have proven their talents beyond the shadow of doubt-- Mwng couples cultural pride with unforgettable melodies in a way few bands have ever attempted. That the band is capable of cramming a songs with names like "Pan Ddaw'r Wawr" and "(Nid) Hon Yw'r Gan Sy'n Mynd i Achub yr Iaith" in your head is commendable, if not downright astounding. But, as they say in the old country, "Heb ddyfalbara athrylith ydy a 'n amhlantadwy gorweddfa:" Talent without perseverance is a barren bed.
