Gruff Rhys: Sugar Club, Dublin 14 Jan 2005

Gruff Rhys is moonlighting. Not in the style of Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepard but in the style of a frontman of one of our most successful bands who’s got a bit wasted and misplaced his band mates.

The reason we’re here is ‘YR ATAL GENHEDLAETH’ (which translates roughly as The Stuttering Generation), a debut solo offering from the Super Furry Animals frontman. The album evolved from a series of demos and as much as it’s possible to gather from one listening they are still a little rough around the edges. Following in the footsteps of the Furries ‘Mwng’ (which many diehard fans would cite as their finest hour) the lyrics are in Welsh.

Sadly my knowledge of Wales and the Welsh is limited to the most basic of stereotypes, namely, leeks, singing, incomprehensible town names and a hatred of all things English. So we have to rely on Gruff’s translations to get a feel for the meaning of the songs (they are about pirates, sewage cities and experts apparently). Despite this linguistic gap there is much to be savoured in tonight’s performance.

Rhys’s music shares many common characteristics with the music of the Furries. Songs which seem to have lost all direction and fallen flat on their face are resurrected with a burst of simple but irresistible melody. A prime example of this being ‘Pwdin Wy Parts 1 and 2’. Part 1 recounts the blossoming of young love while Part 2 explains how it all went wrong. Although much of the gig has a distinctly comic nature ‘Pwdin Wy Part 2’ is a simple and effective song and draws warm applause from the appreciative crowd.

The gig is shambolic in pretty much every sense of the word but this partisan audience doesn’t seem to give a hoot. Accompanied by a battered old Casio organ, an acoustic guitar and a variety of noise making objects, which only those of a generous temperament and terminal deafness would classify as musical instruments, Gruff seems to be struggling with the arrays of objects laid out before him. It’s the first time these songs have been performed live and one gets the overwhelming impression that Gruff hadn’t given much thought to the logistics of his debut solo performance and is heard lamenting one more than one occasion “I don’t have enough hands”. Still he is engaging and amusing enough to get away with it.

Often these forays into solo performances are simply an ego trip on behalf of the star who feels that his fellow band members are soaking up an unfair amount of adulation. However the unassuming nature of Mr Rhys and the quality of music on display here would testify this is not the case. All in all, an enjoyable evenings entertainment.

words: Shane Herraghty

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