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Oct 03, 2023 By Mark Redfern Photography by Mark James

Gruff Rhys, Welsh frontman of Super Furry Animals, has announced a new solo album, Sadness Sets Me Free, and shared its first single, “Celestial Candyfloss,” via a music video. Sadness Sets Me Free is due out January 26, 2024 via Rough Trade. Mark James directed the video for “Celestial Candyfloss.” Watch it below, followed by the album’s tracklist and cover artwork, as well as Rhys’ upcoming tour dates.

In a press release, Rhys says the new song “is an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance. Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life and managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that’s lost in space. For what is apparently the 25th album I’ve had a hand in writing I’ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness.”

Rhys’ backing band on the album features Osian Gwynedd (piano), Huw V Williams (double bass), and former Flaming Lips drummer Kliph Scurlock (drums). Sadness Sets Me Free was recorded at La Frette Studios, a studio on the outskirts of Paris in a 19th-century house. The initial recordings were done in only three days. Kate Stables from This is the Kit contributed backing vocals (Rhys produced This is the Kit’s latest album, Careful of Your Keepers, which came out in June). Sadness Sets Me Free is the 25th album Rhys has released, taking into account Super Furry Animals, his solo work, and various side-projects.

“At this point I quite like working with serendipity,” he says. “Not in a cosmic way, [but] I try and leave things open to chance encounters and chance geography. As I’m around 25 albums in I’m always looking for ways to make a different-sounding record.”

Back in February, Rhys released the soundtrack for the film The Almond and the Seahorse via Rough Trade. His last regular solo album was 2021’s Seeking New Gods. It was one of our Top 100 Albums of the 2021. In 2022 he also shared the new songs “People Are Pissed” and “Arogldarth.” “People Are Pissed” was one of our Songs of the Week.

Read our 2015 interview with Gruff Rhys.

Sadness Sets Me Free Tracklist:

01) Sadness Sets Me Free
02) Bad Friend
03) Celestial Candyfloss
04) Silver Lining (lead balloons)
05) On The Far Side of the Dollar
06) They Sold My Home to Build a skyscraper
07) Peace Signs
08) Cover up the Cover up
09) I Tended My Resignation
10) I’ll Keep Singing

Gruff Rhys Tour Dates:

10/11 - New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge#
10/12 – Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
10/13 - Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s#
10/14 - Washington, DC @ Songbyrd#
10/17 - Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
10/19 - Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/20 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee#
10/21 - Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club #
10/27-29 - Caernarfon, UK @ Caernarfon Castle
11/5 - Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
12/1 - Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands^
12/2 - Liverpool, UK @ Olympia^
2/2 - Aberystwyth, UK @ Arts Centre

# = w/ This Is The Kit
^ = w/ The Coral

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