Animals' See-Saw Style Results in Uneven Show

Super Furry Animals
Cat's Cradle

The Super Furry Animals are absolutely ideal for headphones. Or for listening to in the car. Or anyplace, really, where the skip or rewind buttons are readily accessible.

The Welsh pop-punk progressive rockers dart between heavy, pounding numbers and decaffeinated melodies like a schizophrenic's mix tape -- serving up songs that, when carefully selected, fit any mood-de-jour. But this bi-polar range made for a very peculiar concert-going experience Friday night at the Cat's Cradle.

Playing in near darkness in front of twin screens broadcasting musically synchronized, commissioned short films, the band drew generously from the material on its newest album, Rings Around the World. But it was the older, catchier crowd favorites, including "She's Got Spies," that summoned the most smiles from the packed crowd, no doubt riddled with seasoned fans.

The Super Furry Animals started the night out with a growling heavy-metal instrumental. But its next song came through like a gust of wind, clearing away all of the intro's fierceness and casually redefining the band's style.

This song, "Rings Around the World," was instantly catchy and nearly cartoonish. Splicing samples of phone sounds with sonic effects and a bubblegum chorus, the song certainly suits lyrics like, "With cans of post water in tow/We gonna vaporize your soul." The Beach Boys might have made songs like this if they were Welsh and infinitely weirder.

The contrast in the next song "Sidewalk Serfer Girl" came abruptly from within -- tamely acoustic for a few beats then suddenly thrashing and electric. The dreamy love song was quite memorable, but its sporadic composition, though deliberate, made for mixed reactions in concert.

And therein lay the problem on Friday night. The momentum built in one song was abruptly shattered by a floaty, subdued song that followed, such as "Juxtaposed With U" -- a song that somehow melts voice distortion into a lounge track. Lead singer Gruff Rhys nearly swayed the crowd to sleep by the song's end.

Even songs dripping with character, like the satirical and cigar-laden "Presidential Suite" or the mocking "Run Christian Run" seemed to deflate the crowd with a quickness. These new songs just weren't as sharp, as refined or as adored as they're going to be in two years' time. Nor did they contain the spunk found in the tracks off older albums Radiator and Guerrilla.

Even the band's ace-in-the-hole "Receptacle for the Respectable" -- a blushing, grinning and otherwise spooktacular pop song with lyrics like "subtle as a nail bomb in the head" -- left fans with an awkward indecision about what to do. Dance? Sway? Do nothing?

The apparent detachment of the band amounted to really good music played with no emotion. The apathy in the Cat's Cradle was so thick that audience finally adopted it and waited patiently for the show to end.

And the seven-plus-minute electronic bonanza that ended the show was rather appropriate. Leaving only one member on stage to create seriously trippy electronica in lieu of an encore left the crowd pleased -- but only to an extent. While pleased to have witnessed the talent of the band, most fans were still clinging to their expectations, which, subsequently, had gone right out the window.

An atypical concert experience, no doubt, but a good one nevertheless. The skill from the band's records was definitely evident, but the performance and nature of the music made for weirdness on every front. Weirdness is never bad, but in the show it was unsatisfying -- while blasting the Super Furry Animals in the car never disappoints.

The Arts & Entertainment Editor can be reached at artsdesk@unc.edu.