Slow Life

Last updated
Slow Life
SFA-Slow-Life.jpg
EP by
Super Furry Animals
Released12 April 2004
Recorded2003–2004
Genre Experimental rock
Length17:22
Label Placid Casual
Producer Mario Caldato Jr., Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals chronology
Phantom Power
(2003)		Slow Life
(2004)		 Phantom Phorce
(2004)

Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce . [1] Lead track "Slow Life" appeared on the 2003 album Phantom Power and was originally composed as a purely electronic song by keyboardist Cian Ciaran several years earlier. The band were keen to finish the track and Ciaran encouraged them to jam over his original version—this jam was then edited and made into the finished song. [2] The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and rap group Goldie Lookin Chain.

Contents

The EP received mixed reviews although "Slow Life" itself was singled out for praise by many critics. A music video was made to accompany the track directed by Dylan Jones and Paps O'Maoileoain. [3] [4] The Super Furries appeared in the 2004 film 9 Songs playing "Slow Life" live during a scene in which one of the characters attends a gig by the band at the Brixton Academy.

Recording and themes

"Slow Life" was written in two stages. According to bassist Guto Pryce the "electronic part" was composed by keyboard player Cian Ciaran "quite a few years" before its eventual release. The band had tried to fit this early, purely electronic, version on previous albums but had "never got 'round to it". By the time the group came to record Phantom Power they were anxious to release the song, however Ciaran was reluctant to leave it in its original form and encouraged the rest of the band to jam over his original track. According to singer Gruff Rhys the instrumentation was recorded "pretty much live" after which lyrics were written and the band's 10-minute jam session was "chopped ... up and made into a composed song" with the electronic section intact. Strings were later added by Sean O'Hagan. [2] Rhys has stated that renting their own studio in Cardiff has given the band the ability to work on tracks such as "Slow Life" over a period of years—the group visit the studio almost every day and play: "the best parts on any of our records, I think, come out of a couple of us being in our little room in Cardiff at three in the morning, just wigging out and being ecstatic in the music." [5]

According to guitarist Huw Bunford the track had the working title "Miami Vice" as it featured a drum roll similar to one used in the theme tune to the 80's television show of the same name. The band decided not to keep this name as they were keen to avoid links with a particular place—Bunford gave the example of the song's use on a travel documentary about Miami as something the group did not want to see. [6] Some promotional copies of Phantom Power featured "Slow Life" as the first track although it eventually appeared as the last track on the officially released version of the album. Gruff Rhys has stated that the song had to go at either the beginning or the end of the record as it is the "most sonically impressive" track on the album. [2] Rhys has described his lyrics as "regurgitating what we hear on the news, recycled, vomiting them all back". [7] The Guardian has interpreted the song as a "cutting critique of middle-east colonialism". [8]

Super Furry Animals and Goldie Lookin Chain performing "Motherfokker" together at the V Festival, 2005. GoldieLookinChainAndSuperFurryAnimals.jpg
Super Furry Animals and Goldie Lookin Chain performing "Motherfokker" together at the V Festival, 2005.

The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and Welsh rappers Goldie Lookin Chain with chorus vocals provided by Cian Ciaran. [9] The two toured together in 2004 and Gruff Rhys has praised the group, stating that "their range of references are insane. They're extremely bright. They're crazy." [10] [11] Rhys has explained that the song is about "an incredibly large aircraft from outer space. [Goldie Lookin Chain] are the aliens and it's about the people of Earth coming together as one". [12] The two groups have performed the track together several times at Super Furry Animals' concerts including the 2004 Reading Festival and a date at the Brixton Academy on 22 September 2005. [13] [14]

Release and reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
CokeMachineGlow(59%) [15]
Music Emissions(favourable) [16]
PopMatters (mixed) [17]
Tiny Mix Tapes Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [18]

The E.P. was released as a free download from the Placid Casual website on 12 April 2004. [1] Along with the three tracks that make up the E.P. the promotional music video for "Slow Life" was also available to download in QuickTime and Windows Media Video formats. [19] Limited quantities of the E.P. were also issued on CD, bundled with initial copies of remix album Phantom Phorce on its release on 19 April 2004. [1] The CD version was housed in a floppy disk style picture sleeve. [20]

Critical reaction was generally mixed with Cokemachineglow calling the EP "forgettable", stating that, while "Slow Life" "slides perfectly off Phantom Power ", the other two tracks are weak: "Motherfokker" is a vulgar "Pez candy up the nose" with "shoddy guest rapping" from Goldie Lookin Chain and "Lost Control" is barely more than a remix of Phantom Power track "Out of Control". PopMatters also dismissed "Motherfokker" and "Lost Control" as inessential b-sides and, during their review of 2007's Hey Venus! , the NME suggested that "Motherfokker" is "best-suppressed". [21]

"Slow Life" itself received generally positive reviews; Pitchfork Media called it a "stunning closer" to Phantom Power, [22] while PopMatters described the song as "the kind of schizophrenic fun we've come to expect from the band but ... less showy and eager to please, as they control themselves enough to make the jarring, contradicting styles much easier to digest". [23] Stylus Magazine stated that the "great" track "achieves symbiosis between techno and guitar-pop better than anything else they've done before". [24] The BBC agreed calling "Slow Life" the band's "most successful mindrattling techno attempt so far". [25] The song was placed at number 46 in the 2003 Festive Fifty on John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. [26]

Use of "Slow Life" in 9 Songs

"Slow Life" is central to the 2004 Michael Winterbottom film 9 Songs , being one of the nine songs mentioned in the title. [4] The movie charts the relationship of main characters Matt and Lisa from their initial meeting to the pair splitting up. Footage of the two attending a series of nine concerts at Brixton Academy, where they initially meet, is interspersed with scenes of the actors performing unsimulated sex. [27] Matt and Lisa are already growing apart when Matt attends a Super Furry Animals concert at the Academy alone. Giving Lisa's ticket away as she "didn't want to go" the character comments: "5000 people in a room and you can still feel alone". The scene appears roughly forty minutes into the film and shows the band performing "Slow Life" live in its entirety as Matt looks on.

Music video

Gruff Rhys in the promotional video for "Slow Life". Slow-Life-SFA-Screenshot.jpg
Gruff Rhys in the promotional video for "Slow Life".

A promotional music video was made to accompany "Slow Life" directed by Dylan Jones and Paps O'Maoileoain. [3] The video features psychedelic, fluorescent images of the band's faces in close up as they play and sing along with the track. Strobing and fractal images appear at several points throughout the video. As with the other tracks taken from Phantom Power , "Golden Retriever" and "Hello Sunshine", the video for "Slow Life" does not appear on the Phantom Power DVD release but is included on the DVD version of greatest hits album Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 .

Track listing

All songs by Super Furry Animals unless otherwise stated.

  1. "Slow Life" – 6:59
  2. "Motherfokker" (Super Furry Animals/Goldie Lookin Chain) – 5:42
  3. "Lost Control" – 4:41

Credits

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals</span> Welsh rock band

Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys, Huw Bunford, Guto Pryce, Cian Ciaran, and Dafydd Ieuan. An earlier incarnation of the band featured actor Rhys Ifans on lead vocals. The band are considered to be part of the renaissance of Welsh culture which emerged in the 1990s: other Welsh bands of the time include the Manic Street Preachers, Stereophonics, Catatonia and Gorky's Zygotic Mynci.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gruff Rhys</span> Welsh musician and filmmaker born in 1970

Gruffudd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, composer, producer, filmmaker and author. He performs solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals, which obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008 Nationwide Mercury Prize. He won the 2011 Welsh Music Prize for his album Hotel Shampoo, which was followed up by American Interior in 2014, accompanied by a film, a book and a mobile app. His most recent album, Sadness Sets Me Free, was released in 2024. He is considered a figurehead of the era known as Cool Cymru.

<i>Phantom Power</i> (Super Furry Animals album) Album by Super Furry Animals

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<i>Phantom Phorce</i> 2004 remix album by Super Furry Animals

Phantom Phorce is a remix album of Super Furry Animals' 2003 record Phantom Power. The remixes had previously appeared on the DVD version of Phantom Power—they were re-released as Phantom Phorce on the band's own Placid Casual label as a way of ensuring the remixers would receive royalties for the tracks. The album features a commentary from the fictional 'Kurt Stern' who appears between songs to discuss the re-recording of Phantom Power under his guidance after being unhappy with the original. First editions of the album came packaged in a case that doubled as a paper model of a video game arcade cabinet, and included a bonus CD; the Slow Life EP. Critical reaction to Phantom Phorce was generally positive.

<i>Love Kraft</i> 2005 studio album by Super Furry Animals

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hermann Loves Pauline</span> 1997 single by Super Furry Animals

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"Ysbeidiau Heulog" is the twelfth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the only single to be taken from the album Mwng and was released as a limited edition 7" vinyl on the band's own Placid Casual label on 1 May 2000. It was the band's first single to chart outside the UK Singles Top 75 peaking at number 89. The Welsh language song has been described by singer Gruff Rhys as "throwaway pop" and likened to the music of ELO, The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band and Os Mutantes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Juxtapozed with U</span> 2001 single by Super Furry Animals

"Juxtapozed with U" is the thirteenth single by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be taken from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2001. The song was initially conceived as a duet but, after both Brian Harvey and Bobby Brown turned the band down, lead singer Gruff Rhys sang the entire track, using a vocoder on the verses to imitate another person. Musically "Juxtapozed with U" has echoes of Philadelphia soul and the "plastic soul" of David Bowie's album Young Americans and was inspired by the Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder track "Ebony and Ivory". Rhys has claimed that he sees "Juxtapozed with U" as "fairly subversive" because its polished pop style was in stark contrast to the "macho" guitar music the band felt was prevalent in 2001.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">(Drawing) Rings Around the World</span> Single by Super Furry Animals

"(Drawing) Rings Around the World" is a song by Super Furry Animals and was the second single taken from the band's fifth album, Rings Around the World. The track reached number 28 on the UK Singles Chart on release in October 2001. Singer Gruff Rhys has described the song as being about "rings of communication around the world. All the rings of pollution".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It's Not the End of the World?</span> 2002 single by Super Furry Animals

"It's Not the End of the World?" is a song by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was the last single to be released from the Rings Around the World album and reached number 30 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in January 2002. Singer Gruff Rhys has variously described the track as being about the extinction of mankind and as "a romantic song about growing old".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Golden Retriever (song)</span> 2003 single by Super Furry Animals

"Golden Retriever" is a song by Super Furry Animals. It was the first single to be issued from the album Phantom Power and reached number 13 on the UK Singles Chart on its release in July 2003. The song is about the relationship between singer Gruff Rhys's girlfriend's two dogs and was written in the same key, with the same guitar tuning and around the same time as several other songs from Phantom Power.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Super Furry Animals discography</span> Music discography

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References

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  15. ↑ Coke Machine Glow Review Archived 2008-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
  16. ↑ "Music Emissions review". Archived from the original on 2007-02-08. Retrieved 2009-03-06.
  17. ↑ Popmatters review
  18. ↑ Tiny Mix Tapes review
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  26. ↑ "Festive 50s: 2003". BBC . October 2005. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
  27. ↑ "9 Songs (18)". Total Film . Retrieved 2009-03-06.

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