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"To be honest, it'd be nice to be able to sing positive songs," explains Furry bassist Guto Pryce. "We try not to get bogged down too much by world events, but they've sort of overshadowed everything else in the past couple of years. And if you're writing honestly about what you think, it's bound to come in. There's quite a lot of paranoia going on in the world at the moment. We travel a lot and go through a lot of airports, and it's in your face constantly."
Still, Pryce insists the Animals are a cheerful bunch, all things considered. "We're generally happy, positive people," he says. "We definitely enjoy life and love what we're doing."
Part of their satisfaction came from being able to record in their own studio in their hometown of Cardiff, Wales.
"It's quite convenient, our setup -- it's close to home, it's got computers and we get to mess about on our own time without thinking about budgets," Pryce says.
In fact, the band -- which also includes singer Gruff Rhys, guitarist Bunf Bunford, synth player Cian Ciaran and drummer Daf Ieuan -- messed about with real cars and guns to give Phantom Power a more authentic sound.
"Yeah, that was one of our innovations," laughs Pryce. "When you've got a record deal, sometimes you pick up the phone and demand something, just to see what'll happen. So we asked for guns, and they showed up! I'd never touched one before, but they sound better than the ones you get on sound effects CDs. We went outside and frightened a couple of sheep. We also got a couple of cars and used the horn noises. We had a litle car orchestra going."
The Super Furry Animals play Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre on Thursday.