Gruff Rhys preps new LP 'Pang!', shares the title track, touring
Gruff Rhys is back with new solo album Pang! on September 13 via Rough Trade. The record is a little different for the Super Furry Animals frontman — it’s a collaboration with South African electronic artist Muzi who Gruff met on Damon Albarn’s traveling world music collective Africa Express. Gruff wrote the basic songs which Muzi then remixed, reworked and sometimes stripped away everything but the vocals before building them back up. The approach was also partially inspired by Gruff’s visit to Prince’s Paisley Park studio during his Babelsberg tour. “Visiting the gloss of Prince’s democratic music palace confirmed in me that my move into day-glo processed pop with this record was justified and in particular, albums like Around the World in a Day (and in particular the title track) became a reference point for attempting to make psychedelically joyful, internationalist and deeply personal digital pop music.” The first single is Pang!’s title track, which takes Gruff’s bossa nova-y song and puts it in the blender. It still sounds like Gruff, but also unlike anything he’s ever done before. (Though it also sounds a little like Cornelius.) Check out the video below.
You can catch Gruff on tour in September, kicking off with a Brooklyn show at Elsewhere Rooftop on 9/5 and then hitting Raleigh for Hopscotch Fest, then Chicago, Kansas City, Los Angeles and San Francisco. Tickets for Elsewhere go on sale Friday, July 12 at 10 AM. He’s got European/UK dates too — all are listed below.
Pang! tracklist:
1. Pang!
2. Bae Bae Bae
3. Digidigol
4. Ara Deg (Ddaw’r Awen)
5. Eli Haul
6. Niwl O Anwiredd
7. Taranau Mai
8. Ôl Bys / Nodau Clust
9. Annedd Im Danedd
GRUFF RHYS – 2019 TOUR DATES:
Sept 5 – Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere Rooftop
Sept 7 – Raleigh, NC – Hopscotch Festival
Sept 9 – Chicago, IL – The Hideout
Sept 10 – Kansas City, MO – recordBar
Sept 13 – Los Angeles, CA – Zebulon
Sept 15 – San Francisco, CA – The Chapel
Sept 21 – Bethesda, Wales – Gwyl Ara Deg – (SOLD OUT)
Sept 15 – Gateshead, UK – Sage Gateshead
Oct 16 – Paisley, Scotland – Spree Fest
Oct 18 – Cardiff, Wales – Sŵn Fest
Oct 19 – Birmingham, UK – Future Days Fest
Oct 20 – Manchester, UK – Yes
Oct 21 – Cambridge, UK – Stoney’s field
Oct 23 – London, UK – Earth
Nov 6 – Paris, FR – Le Pop-UP du Label
Nov 7 – Utrecht, NL – Le Guess Who Fest
Nov 8 – Gent, BEL – Democrazy
Nov 9 – Berlin, DE – Privatclub
