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May 10, 2018 Super Furry Animals By Christopher Roberts

Gruff Rhys, Welsh frontman of Britpop outliers and survivors Super Furry Animals, is releasing a new solo album, Babelsberg, on June 8 via Rough Trade. The album was recorded with the 72-piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales and he previously shared a video for its first single, “Frontier Man” (which was one of our Songs of the Week). Now he has shared another song from the album, “Limited Edition Heart.” He has also announced some tour dates, including some U.S. and Canadian ones in October. Check out the song and tour dates below.

“Limited Edition Heart” was shared via an amusing black & white looped animated lyric video featuring Donald Trump sitting at a table with Jesus and taking photos of him with his phone.

Rhys had this to say about the song in a press release: “I wrote ‘Limited Edition Heart’ whilst walking along a polluted yet beautiful river. It has beautiful orchestral arrangements thanks to Stephen McNeff and the BBC NOW orchestra.”

Babelsberg‘s songs were originally recorded in a quick three-day session in 2016 at producer Ali Chant’s studio just before it was demolished and featured drummer Kliph Scurlock (ex-Flaming Lips), along with multi-instrumentalists Stephen Black (aka Sweet Baboo) and Osian Gwynedd. Then 18 months later Swansea based composer Stephen McNeff finished orchestral scores for the songs and the album was completed with the 72-piece BBC National Orchestra of Wales.

Rhys had this to say about the album in a previous press release: “I’d made a note of the word ‘Babelsberg’ after driving past a sign when I was on tour in 2014. Cut to a few years later and the studio where I recorded the album was being knocked down just a week after I finished to make way for a ‘luxury’ apartment development. I was looking for a name that evoked the Tower of Babel - people building towers to reach an idea of heaven (but maybe creating a kind of hell - I’m an atheist by the way!) In any case I had written Babelsberg down and when I listened to the songs together, it finally made sense why I’d done that.”

Rhys’ last solo album was 2014’s American Interior (which was also a documentary film, a book, and an app).

Read our 2015 interview with Gruff Rhys about American Interior.

Gruff Rhys Tour Dates:

June 10th - Cardiff, Wales - Millenium Centre (w/BBC National Orchestra Of Wales)
June 13th - London, UK - Rough Trade East
Aug 30-Sept 2 - Salisbury, UK - End Of The Road Festival
Sept 12th - London, UK - Barbican (with the London Contemporary Orchestra)
Sept 15th - Manchester, UK - RNCM Concert Hall (with the RNCM Orchestra)
Sept 16th - Manchester, UK - RNCM Concert Hall (with the RNCM Orchestra)
Oct 5th - Montreal, QUE - The Ritz
Oct 6th - Toronto, ONT - Garrison
Oct 8th - Boston, MA - Great Scott
Oct 9th - Brooklyn, NY - Rough Trade
Oct 10th - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda’s
Oct 11th - Washington, DC - DC9
Oct 12th - Pittsburgh, PA - Funhouse
Oct 13th - Columbus, OH - Ace Of Cups
Oct 14th - Chicago, IL - Chop Shop
Oct 16th - Minneapolis, MN - Cedar Cultural Center
Oct 19th - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
Oct 20th - Seattle, WA - Barboza
Oct 21st - Portland, OR - Doug Fir
Oct 23rd - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
Oct 24th - Los Angeles, CA - The Echo
Nov 8th - Portsmouth, UK - Wedgewood Rooms
Nov 9th - Brighton, UK - The Old Market
Nov 10th - Folkestone, UK - The Quarterhouse
Nov 11th - Oxford, UK - O2 Academy
Nov 12th - Bristol, UK - SWX
Nov 13th - Birmingham, UK - Glee Club
Nov 15th - Glasgow, Scotland - SWG3
Nov 16th - Leeds, UK - Church Leeds
Nov 17th - Liverpool, UK - Arts Club
Nov 19th - Paris, France - Le Badaboum
Nov 20th - Schaffhausen, Switzerland - Tap Tab
Nov 21st - Munich, Germany - Ampere
Nov 22nd - Berlin, Germany - Privatclub
Nov 23rd - Hamburg, Germany - Turmzimmer
Nov 24th - Copenhagen, Denmark - Alice
Nov 26th - Brussels, Belgium - Botanique/Rotonde
Nov 27th - Cologne, Germany - Studio 672
Nov 28th - Amsterdam, NL - Paradiso Noord
Nov 30th - Other Voices
Dec 1st - Cork, Ireland - Live At St.Lukes
Dec 2nd - Galway, Ireland - Roisin Dublin
Dec 3rd - Dublin, Ireland - Button Factory

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