I’ve had a busy week at work. Luckily for me it is socially acceptable there to slam the headphones on (some nicely responsive Sennheiser noise cancelling ones to drown out the mundane roar of the crowded office) at times of need, and listen to sustaining music.
This way, it’s possible to tune out a little and concentrate on the task at hand… and all the while enjoying fewer interruptions (as generally wearing the headphones seems to approximate the Japanese practise of wearing a hachimaki and people respect that you maybe would prefer not to be disturbed).
For much of this week I’ve had the iPod on shuffle over the entire works of the Super Furry Animals - for me, about 156 tracks. And it’s been great.
There’s such huge variation in their catalogue (around their central musical styles and themes) that I can’t get bored. And occasionally, in between the albums and singles, there are b-sides of such aching beauty that they linger in that little part of your brain that provides the soundtrack for the times when you aren’t listening to music. Out they come, while you walk to work, or cook dinner, little snatches of verse and lyrics to fill those blank spaces.
One such is Cryndod Yn Dy Lais, a b-side from the Play It Cool ep from 1997. (You can download it, plus some others recorded in an acoustic session by Gruff Rhys for a French radio station, here)
It’s sung in Welsh, like many of the Super Furries' songs. This matters not a bit. You can feel the emotions that Gruff invests in this song.
I had not thought to seek out a translation before doing a little research. It turns out that the song title means “The trembling in your voice”, something that seems obvious in retrospect give the way the song is sung.
Anyway, have a listen. And then again.
