Gruff Rhys

The great mad dreamer of Welsh indie pop, Gruff Rhys' Super Furry Animals were charming outsiders of the 1990s Brit pop scene, landing big top ten albums although their experimental, psychedelic melodies and eccentric song topics baffled many. Born on July 18, 1970, in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, Gruff Rhys' musical vision took shape with 1980s indie oddities Ffa Coffi Pawb who built a cult local following and released three albums for Ankst Records. He toured the world with Super Furry Animals in the 1990s and 2000s, creating softly spoken, jangly pop, filled with Beach Boys harmonies and raucous guitar licks before releasing his Welsh language debut solo album Yr Atal Genhedlaeth in 2005 and going on to form folktronica project Neon Neon with DJ and producer Boom Blip. Renowned for singing in Welsh, English, and occasionally Spanish, his further solo albums Candylion (2007) and Hotel Shampoo (2011) were typically mercurial and beguiling, drawing from trippy 1960s folk and melancholy piano ballads. In 2014, he released his fourth album American Interior, which he followed with Babelsberg in 2018 and Pang! in 2019. Seeking New Gods, his seventh full-length album, came out in 2021 and cracked the Top 10 of the Official UK Albums Chart. Preceded by the single "Celestial Candyfloss," his eighth studio effort Sadness Set Me Free came out in early 2024.