Slow Life
| Slow Life | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| EP by Super Furry Animals | ||||
| Released | 12 April 2004 | |||
| Recorded | 2003-2004 | |||
| Genre | Experimental rock | |||
| Length | 17:24 | |||
| Label | Placid Casual | |||
| Producer | Mario Caldato Jr., Super Furry Animals | |||
| Super Furry Animals chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| CokeMachineGlow | (59%) |
| Music Emissions | (favourable) |
| PopMatters | (mixed) |
| Tiny Mix Tapes |
  |
Slow Life is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 2004. The EP was made available as a free download and also saw a limited CD release, bundled with remix album Phantom Phorce. Lead track "Slow Life" appeared on the 2003 album Phantom Power and was originally composed as a purely electronic song by keyboardist Cian Ciaran several years earlier. The band were keen to finish the track and Ciaran encouraged them to jam over his original version—this jam was then edited and made into the finished song. The track "Motherfokker" is a collaboration between the Super Furry Animals and rap group Goldie Lookin Chain.
The EP received mixed reviews although "Slow Life" itself was singled out for praise by many critics. A music video was made to accompany the track directed by Dylan Jones and Paps O'Maoileoain. The Super Furries appeared in the 2004 film 9 Songs playing "Slow Life" live during a scene in which one of the characters attends a gig by the band at the Brixton Academy.
"Slow Life" was written in two stages. According to bassist Guto Pryce the "electronic part" was composed by keyboard player Cian Ciaran "quite a few years" before its eventual release. The band had tried to fit this early, purely electronic, version on previous albums but had "never got 'round to it". By the time the group came to record Phantom Power they were anxious to release the song, however Ciaran was reluctant to leave it in its original form and encouraged the rest of the band to jam over his original track. According to singer Gruff Rhys the instrumentation was recorded "pretty much live" after which lyrics were written and the band's 10-minute jam session was "chopped ... up and made into a composed song" with the electronic section intact. Strings were later added by Sean O'Hagan. Rhys has stated that renting their own studio in Cardiff has given the band the ability to work on tracks such as "Slow Life" over a period of years—the group visit the studio almost every day and play: "the best parts on any of our records, I think, come out of a couple of us being in our little room in Cardiff at three in the morning, just wigging out and being ecstatic in the music."
...
Wikipedia