Welsh musicians pay tribute to Super Furry Animals on charity album

David Owens

A host of Wales’ leading artists have joined forces to record a charity album which pays tribute to Super Furry Animals.

‘Corona Logic’ sees Welsh musicians such as Adwaith, Los Blancos, Keys, Al Moses, Carwyn Ellis, Bandicoot, Sybs, The Gentle Good, Clwb Fuzz, Martin Carr, CVC, Papur Wal, Carys Eleri and many more bring their own unique twist to the songs of the much-loved Welsh band.

‘Corona Logic’, released this Friday, March 26, will feature 28 songs, split over two volumes including such Furry favourite as Fire In My heart, God Show Me Magic, Demons, Slow Life, Hello Sunshine and The Man Don’t Give A F***.

The albums will be free to download but everyone who downloads the album will be encouraged to make a donation to Llamau – the Welsh homeless charity for young people.

‘Corona Logic’ features stunning artwork from Pete Fowler, the Cardiff-born artist synonymous with the Super Furry Animals.

The album is the brainchild of designer Jon Mlynarski, who is responsible for a series of Corona charity albums released during lockdown that has seen Welsh musicians interpret the songs of The Velvet Underground, The Beatles and David Bowie.

‘Lockdown’

“The whole premise of this is that it gives musicians who don’t have anything to do because they’re in lockdown, it gives them something to do,” says Jon. “It keeps them busy and gives them something to focus on. It also raises a few quid for a brilliant charity and it’s a nice way to say thank you to the Super Furries for being amazing.

“It’s a bit of fun and hopefully we can raise some money to help young homeless people.”

Having already produced three charity releases throughout the pandemic, Jon was hoping that the most recent release ‘Corona Stardust’, a tribute to David Bowie, would have been the last.

However, with lockdown coming into force again over Christmas, the designer thought he would put an album together paying tribute to his favourite Welsh band.

“With lockdown kicking off again over Christmas, which turned out to be the longest lockdown of all, I thought this is all proving to be a bit depressing, so why not do another album,” says Jon.

“Right at the beginning of doing these I thought about doing the Furries. Their music is so amazing. It’s been fun listening through their back catalogue. You never get bored of them. They have so many perfect songs, they’re timeless. For me they’re as good as The Beatles and are one of the greatest bands in the world. They’re so creative and endlessly inventive. They are the complete package.”

Immediately seeking approval from the band was the first step into bringing ‘Corona Logic’ together.

“I was talking to Gwen from Adwaith, who had recently worked on a project with (SFA frontman) Gruff (Rhys), so she asked Gruff and he was very positive about it,” says Jon.

“I then got to speak to (SFA keyboard player) Cian (Ciaran), who was brilliant and cleared the copyright from the band’s publishers.

“My friend Gavin Johnson, who knows the band and is good friends with Pete Fowler got in touch with Pete, who was amazing and quickly agreed to do the artwork.

“He worked up stunning artwork featuring an amalgam of Furries’ covers and coloured two versions. He was so enthusiastic. I can’t thank him enough.”

Jon’s next job was the little matter of corralling all the bands together.

“I approached the bands and asked them to give me two song choices,” he says. “I then gave them one song to work on, and worked so that there was no duplication.

“We’ve ended up with 28 artists in total, and there are going to be 14 songs on each volume.

“Everyone loved the idea, because let’s face it, everyone loves Super Furry Animals and was keen to pay tribute to them.”

‘Corona Logic’ will be available from Bandcamp on Friday, March 26 with people encouraged to make a donation to Welsh homeless charity Llamau.

Search ‘Corona Logic’ on Banbdcamp on Friday and you’ll find the album. Please quote ‘SFA’ when making a donation to Llamau.

Find out more about the charity here:

You can find the past Corona charity albums here, here and here.