Striding the globe and crossing musical genres was all in a career’s work for Huw ‘Bunf’ Bunford as the lead guitarist of Welsh indie icons Super Furry Animals, but the band’s four year hiatus has presented new academic ambitions and collaborative possibilities. The imminent result is The Pale Blue Dots, a project that draws on Bunf’s experience of being the naughty kid in class as he studied for an MA in Film Composition at a London film school. Visiting tutor and established composer, Richard Chester forms the other half of the duo, having met the guitarist in the midst of his recent studies and both realising they were ‘on the same planet’. Richard’s career in composition has seen him create scores for a series of films including Daylight Robbery (2007) and Red, White and Blue (2010) and collaborating with Music Producers Psychemagik by co-writing and providing orchestral arrangements. The pair’s first release, an album titled Lots of Dots, is a nine track odyssey that fans of West Coast psychedelia, alternative pop and, indeed, Super Furry Animals can instantly relate to. Released on Strangetown Records, the Cardiff-based imprint shared with fellow Furries, Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan, the digital only release opens the door on a project that sets traditional song writing alongside soundscape experimentation.
