Hey Venus! by Super Furry Animals

Hey Venus! is the eighth album by Welsh band Super Furry Animals. It was released on 27 August 2007 in the United Kingdom. Hey Venus! is the band's first full-length release on current label Rough Trade Records and, at just over 36 minutes, is also their shortest-running studio release. The title is taken from the first line of the song "Into the Night".The album was conceived as a "rowdy pop record", both in response to Rough Trade's request for "one of those pop records like you used to make" and as a result of the "very different atmosphere" the band encountered at shows on the Love Kraft tour when the 'slow' songs from that album were played. In contrast with many Super Furry Animals albums, no samplers were used during recording of Hey Venus! as the group made a conscious decision to create a "simple record" which "capture[d] the spirit of the band playing live in a room". Dave Newfeld took over production duties from Mario Caldato Jr., who had worked on both Phantom Power and Love Kraft, as the band didn't want to "repeat [their] past two records". As with Love Kraft, all members of the band contributed songs at the recording stage but, besides chief songwriter Gruff Rhys, only guitarist Huw Bunford ("Battersea Odyssey") and keyboard player Cian Ciaran ("Carbon Dating") ended up with their tracks on the finished album.The album follows the life and adventures of a character called Venus as she moves "from a small town to a big metropolis". The band have given several explanations for the appearance of this narrative arc in the record claiming variously that Hey Venus! was conceived as a concept album, that the similar themes in the songs were only noticed after they had been written and were used as a way of "structuring and compiling the album" and that the Venus concept was thought up after the album's completion in order to give sleeve designer Keiichi Tanaami "a reference point to make an illustration from." After working with Pete Fowler since 1997's Radiator the band asked Tanaami to produce artwork for Hey Venus!, having been "blown away" by his work on a Japanese tour.Critical response was generally positive with some reviews claiming Hey Venus! is "[the band's] most satisfying work" and exhibits a "full-fledged return to pop power". Some critics, however, pointed out that the album has the "faint whiff of musical conservatism" and "must rank as [the Super Furry Animals'] least adventurous" record.