"Huh this name’s funny. Pronounced "muwong" then, is it?" er, no it’s "moong" actually…think of mooing cows. "So what does it mean then? Sheep Shaggers Anonymous?" it’s translated as "Mane". Furry animals have them. "They’re Welsh, you know." YES WE KNOW!!!!!

Aaah right, can we get on with the review now, please?

I personally always thought the Super Furries resided on Mars and Gruff could be warbling on in Latvian for all I care. Mwng is a lot less of a playful animal than Guerrilla but the musical directness of its contents makes it all the more scrumptiously mournful, [Ymaelodi A’r Mylon].

The one thing I do miss is that unless you are a Welsh speaker you can’t understand the lyrics, which means that the vast majority of us miss all those skewed play on words. Even if we can’t understand what on earth Gruff is singing about (and to be honest, have we ever?) the music, tone and atmosphere of the songs give us quite a good indication of where the lyrics are heading. This is exemplified on "Sarn Helen", a song about the Roman Road that is still used today to link North and South Wales. It sounds like an approaching Roman army. Think of a battlefield and two opposing armies marching towards each other and sizing each other up. Y Teimlad’s glass – like fragility exudes emotion. Opening song, Drygioni, sounds as though the rest of the band threw Gruff down a deep well at Christmas. The resulting tune has sleigh bells and vocals so muffled they could’ve used cotton wool to record them.

Mwng was not only meant to be SFA’s Welsh album, but it was also intended as their winter album….which is obviously why they decided to release their album at the start of summer. If Ymaelodi A’r Ymylon typifies Mwng’s wintery persona then Ysbeidiau Heulog is the sunny interval (funnily enough it is also the translation of the song title) of the album, a song that wouldn’t look out of place on Guerrilla.

So with no lyrics to giggle at, and an SFA who’ve returned to their rockier roots the listener is left with a poignant, dark, curling, bundle of songs.

The Super Furry Animals go back to basics for this their fourth studio album and follow up to the hugely successful Guerilla.

Not only is this album in their native language of Welsh, but it also has a live sound as if the album only took 40 minutes to record. Acoustic guitars and brass sections feature quite a lot on ‘Mwng’ whereas their last album ‘Guerilla’ was based around Cian’s Moog and the rest of his electric gizmos.

The album opens with ‘Drygioni’, with its cowbell rhythm, simple chorus, spaced out stylophone and distorted vocals, it makes an impressive start, but there are even better things to come. Like the breathtaking ‘Ymaelodi Â'r Ymylon’ with its looped guitar grooves, layered harmonies, handclap beats and Gruff’s gorgeous vocals it’s very Beach Boys-esque and probably one of this year's summer anthems. The recent single and perfect pop song ‘Ysbeidiau Helog’ sees the Sax and Trumpet come together for the first time, it’s a brisk and bubbly track where all the band are busy doing their thang, it shows just how talented all five band members are and how well they’ve gelled together over the years.

The beautiful cover of Datblygu’s ‘Y Teimlad’ is proof of how Gruff’s voice has improved compared to previous releases, his falsettos are now very similar to Brian Wilson’s who in my opinion was the one of the best vocalists of the last century. A darker side to SFA’s music is shown on ‘Sarn Helen’ the chant like vocals and ghostly howls create a great atmospheric track, their friends Mogwai might have been the inspiration behind the more sinister sound.

The Super Furries are the best band in the world, they have never really had a set sound and as long as they continue to experiment with different instruments, styles and sounds they’ll always be one step in front of the rest. This album won’t bettered this year... unless SFA decide to release another!