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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.

Candylion
by Gruff Rhys


8.5

based on 18 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 9 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album

Yr Atal Genhedlaeth

MUSIC:

Official Artist Site

Unlike his Welsh-language solo debut, the more accessible 'Candylion' finds the Super Furry Animals leader singing mainly in English.

LABEL:	Team Love
RELEASE DATE:	06 March 2007
DISCS:	1 disc
GENRE(S):	Indie, Rock

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

The Onion (A.V. Club)

Fantastic.

Under The Radar

Rather than going over board with effects, Rhys has boiled down his band’s signature weirdness into a light and airy ’ 60's psychedelic folk pop album that never misses a beat. [#17, p.92]

Dot Music

Indisputably one of the best projects Gruff Rhys has ever been involved with.

musicOMH.com

Qualities like intelligence, eclecticism and imagination sometimes seem to be in short supply in the music industry - Candylion encapsulates all these qualities and more and deserves a far wider audience than the cult status it will undoubtedly settle into.

Q Magazine

Stronger than SFA's last outing Love Kraft, this will appeal to those who appreciate the gentler aspects of Rhys's day job. [Feb 2007, p.106]

Uncut

Candylion is a more layered, fully-realised album than 2005's Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. [Feb 2007, p.79]

Mojo

On paper, it looks so wide-ranging as to be in danger of coming out gloopy and overdone; as it turns out, Rhys glues everything together with a crisp sense of confidence. [Feb 2007, p.98]

Observer Music Monthly

Rhys has made both his wildest and most accessible record to date.

Pitchfork

Where his solo debut, Yr Atal Genhedlaeth, was a relatively subdued, Welsh-only affair, its successor takes unseriousness as seriously as any official Furries effort.

Playlouder

Gruff Rhys is one of our most imaginative and original musicians.

The Guardian

Candylion isn't a major musical statement, but its idiosyncratic, nostalgic appeal is hard to resist.

Filter

A good mix of weird pop and airy singing and good beats. [#24, p.92]

BBC collective

Don't expect the gumption of Super Furries, instead bask in the mellow psychedelic ramblings of Gruff unplugged.

New Musical Express

In contrast to... 'Yr Atal Genhedlaeth', which was a bunch of promising, but half-finished song sketches, 'Candylion' is a much more coherent and loveable affair, and up there with some of SFA's better moments.

Spin

An excellent collection of space folk and ramshackle Tropicalia that matches the wild-eyed absurdism... of his band's better output. [Apr 2007, p.94]

cokemachineglow

The terrible truth is that -- and maybe this is a matter of an album’s length, replayability, interesting tenure, obedience, whatever -- Gruff Rhys will always be as politely awesome as Gruff Rhys has always been, and that’s just not enough anymore.

Austin Chronicle

Candylion's dozen tracks are charming, lovely, quiet little bits of hope and glory and melancholy that arrive from somewhere you've never been but always wished to inhabit.

NOW Magazine

Ultimately, Candylion is more annoying than entertaining.

The average user rating for this album is 8.5 (out of 10) based on 9 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Stephen U gave it an8:
A great album that holds up very well. If this were the product of a new artist with no SFA ties I would be very excited about his future. SFA's recent milquetoast offerings pale in comparison to this and the single from the upcoming SFA lp, "Show Your Hand" is NOT a harbinger of a return to form by the Furries. Perhaps Gruff needs to go solo permanently.

andes L gave it an8:
Very charming and consistent. Better than the last Furries album. Nothing here will blow your head (not even the 12 minute monster at the end) but there is some fine songwriting.

David L gave it an8:
"The Court of King Arthur" is the best song SFA never recorded.

paul e gave it an8:
the more you hear this album the more you will like it

Sean P. gave it a7:
Pretty good, nothing more. Like Thom Yorke's solo album, i listen to this one wishing the rest of the band was around. Not even close to SFA's best stuff, but better than most music out there now. I'm confused though, at metacritic's formula. So, as i type this, the overall score is 80 with 14 reviews. Nine of those 14 are right at 80, none higher. The other five reviews are 74 and below, one even as low as 40. Yet the overall score is still 80?!

Adam X gave it an8:
Yep, there isn't an album more definitively 8.0!

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Candylion by Gruff Rhys

Candylion
by Gruff Rhys