Unlike the crunching upbeat surreality of "Golden Retriever", "Hello Sunshine" represents the gentler, stoned balladeering side of SUPER FURRY ANIMALS, which has been quietly present since the days of "Gathering Moss" and previously ran wild with "Juxtaposed With U."
"Hello Sunshine," though, feels less contrived, not to mention entirely devoid of vocoders, which in your reviewer's book is generally a good thing. If you think otherwise, I've got three simple words for you: NEIL YOUNG:"Trans." Thought you'd be horrified.
Anyway, we're getting sidetracked. "Hello Sunshine" is one of the mellower moments from SFA'S recent "Phantom Power" and it's got that dopey but catchy cameraderie quality that Bethesda's finest still do so well, down to the Crosby, Stills & Nash harmony touches on the chorus; the Richard Manuel piano fills and the overall happily stoned reverie. In radio edit form it clocks in at just below the three minute mark and - if there's any justice - will be clogging trannies up and down the country.
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SUPER FURRY ANIMALS remain one of our most beguiling pop propositions, weird enough to take it far out there when necessary, but not so stoned that they can't rein in the songwriting and produce something as simple and effective as "Hello Sunshine." Hummable AND subversive, then? Got it in one.
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