In the Studio with Gruff Rhys | Factory International

We visited Gruff Rhys in his studio where he spoke about needing space to experiment, keeping it irreverent and his unconventional approach to the tracks for Lost and Found. Gruff Rhys is a songwriter and musician from Wales who has consistently explored the potential of the song as an opportunity for wider cultural chaos. Starting out as a teenage songwriter in fuzzy Welsh language outlaws Ffa Coffi Pawb, he then formed Super Furry Animals – a band able to achieve that rarest of mixes, artistic adventure with popular devotion on a global scale. As half of electro duo Neon Neon, Rhys has documented the lives of maverick car maker John DeLorean and Italian activist and publisher Giangiacomo Feltrinelli in high-concept widescreen biographical albums and shows. His 20-year solo career has seen him follow a variety of musical and thematic paths that combine melodic richness and intricate guitar playing subverted by questioning lyrics and wordplay. Over the past decade, he’s seen his Candylion album adapted into a successful stage play, while his 2014 album American Interior was conceived jointly as a feature film and book. He has conceived and soundtracked multiple films, most recently 2022’s The Almond and the Seahorse starting Rebel Wilson and Charlotte Gainsbourg. His seventh and most recent solo album, Seeking New Gods, became his most commercially successful solo album yet, reaching the top 10 in the UK charts, with follow up album Sadness Sets Me Free out in early 2024. Whether through his music, collaborations or multimedia projects, Rhys continues to inspire audiences worldwide with his boundless creativity and unwavering commitment to artistic exploration through the medium of song. For Factory International, Gruff Rhys has written the original music for Lost and Found – a heart-warming adaptation of Oliver Jeffers’ award-winning children’s story. factoryinternational.org Instagram: @factory_international Facebook: /FactoryInternational TikTok: @factoryinternational Twitter: @factoryintl