Gruff Rhys / Hotel Shampoo

Gruff Rhys
Hotel Shampoo
(Ovni/Turnstile)

The Super Furry Animals singer has seen some bonkers times. His band have invaded festivals in army tanks, engaged in guerrilla warfare in the tropical forests of Columbia, developed surround sound concerts, and battled the evil forces of Coca Cola (plausibly while dressed as yetis). However, as Gruff Rhys himself admits, the time is finally ripe to sit down, light a pipe, and record an album of romantic piano ballads.
Unfortunately, this strategy appears to have gone completely tits up. "I got bored of the piano ballads" confesses the Welsh musician on the press notes to his new solo album, "so things turned out a bit differently..."
This might explain why 'Hotel Shampoo' is a record of amazonian boogies, 1960s space funk and French noir soundtrack. It's also Gruff's most 'pop' solo outing to date, following the electronic kookiness of 'Yr Atal Genhedlaeth' (2005) and the earthy and subtly childlike 'Candylion' (2007).
Pete Fowler's artwork depicts each song as a different flavoured shampoo bottle, which isn't all that far from the the truth; in the first ten minutes alone we're in 1960s Paris for the melancholy spy-theme 'Shark Ridden Waters', then on a Brazilian salsa for 'Sensations In The Dark' (which serenades the art of discovering music in bed) (and possibly shagging).
Each song lives on its own strange island, although if there is one theme that keeps coming back for more, it's love in all its mysterious guises. Gruff notes that "jealousy is a currency" in the excellent 'At The Heart Of Love', while "it's all over, honey" for the girl who is 'Honey All Over', another bittersweet gem.
'Hotel Shampoo' strikes a nice balance between the heartfelt and the exotic, comfortable in its own shoes whether it's going wide-eyed with romance ('If We Were Words We Would Rhyme') or ape-shit with the rules of songwriting ('Patterns Of Power'). As you'd expect, Gruff's instinctive reach for ace melodies holds it all together, resulting in a fine lather of shampoo excellence.