Northern Lites
Encyclopedia
"Northern Lites" is the ninth single by Super Furry Animals
. It was the first single to be taken from the Guerrilla
album and reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart
after its release on 10 May 1999. The song was written by singer Gruff Rhys
and was inspired by the El Niño
phenomenon. The track's title refers to the Aurora Borealis
, a natural light display which the band were convinced they had seen prior to the song being written. Rhys wrote the melody for "Northern Lites" several years before it was completed but only decided on a calypso
style after he wrote the lyrics. The steel drums on the track are played by keyboardist
Cian Ciaran
and were added on the spur of the moment after the group saw them "lying around" Real World Studios
during recording.
Critical reaction was largely positive with the song being named "Single of the Week" in both the Melody Maker
and NME
, with the latter also listing the song at number 3 in their single of the year
list for 1999. The music video
for "Northern Lites" was directed by Super Furry Animals and Martin McCarthy and features footage of curling
and Irish road bowling
although Rhys has blamed the song's failure to chart higher on the fact that it "didn't have a video".
about "the weather", and was particularly inspired by coverage of the "terrifying, worldwide, seven-year phenomenon" of the west Pacific El Niño
climate pattern
on "weather channels" in 1998. The song's title refers to the Aurora Borealis
, a natural light display which can be observed particularly in the polar regions, and usually at night. The band were convinced that they had seen the lights before the track was written but, as no-one else was present, they could not get confirmation that what they had witnessed was not simply a "Furry fantasy". Rhys has claimed that he would have called the song "Aurora Borealis" but "Latin
song titles are out of the question". Although Rhys has said that the song is "about asking Jesus if he decides to seek his revenge on us, to get it over with as soon as possible and blow us away to the Northern Lights" he has also stated that, although some critics have interpreted the track as being about "questioning one's faith", it is really "just a song about the weather".
The melody of "Northern Lites" was written by Rhys several years before the track was released. The band experimented with reggae
and "dirgy rock
" styles before Rhys wrote the lyrics and, because they were inspired by adverse weather conditions affecting Latin America
, tried playing along to a preset calypso
rhythm track which was on his keyboard
. The singer has stated that, although he does not think the band have "any right to make Latin-influenced" songs, they did not choose a calypso style for the track in a cynical attempt to "crack South America". The group are not "purists" and feel that Latin music is "part of [a] cultural esperanto
".
The track was recorded in the middle of 1998 at Real World Studios
, Box, Wiltshire
, along with the rest of Guerrilla
, and was produced
by Super Furry Animals. The band allowed "the music to dictate itself" during recording sessions, choosing to add steel drums on the spur of the moment after seeing the instruments "lying around" Real World during recording. The steel drum parts were performed by keyboardist Cian Ciaran
, despite the fact he did not know how to play them.
of E minor
. The song begins with an intro
with steel drums, featuring a flanging
effect, before a brass section
enters after 6 seconds playing a melody line accompanied by a güiro
, sparse drums and an acoustic guitar
playing the chords
Em7 and A. The melody line plays twice after which Gruff Rhys begins singing the first verse alongside the güiro, guitar and steel drums which no longer have a flange effect. Towards the end of the verse a distorted guitar melody line plays alongside Rhys's vocal and harmony backing vocals
enter. The song's first chorus begins at 48 seconds with Rhys singing "There's a distant light, a forest fire burning everything in sight". During the second verse the brass section rejoins, playing the same melody line from the intro. After another chorus the song's extended "play-out" section begins at 2 minutes and 13 seconds with Rhys repeating the lines "Don't worry me, or hurry me, blow me far away to the Northern Lites" accompanied by harmony backing vocals. The track breaks down
to just drums and vocals at 2 minutes and 40 seconds after which the band and brass section rejoin. A prominent lead guitar
melody begins after 2 minutes and 47 seconds and plays alongside the vocals, acoustic guitar, brass and drums until the track fades out
and ends at 3 minutes and 31 seconds.
and 7"
on 10 May 1999 and reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart
. The cover features a model of a "three-eyed, four-armed, squid-headed Eskimo warrior" designed by artist Pete Fowler
. The warrior is shown holding "two portable poles of latitude and longitude" and has "the heating regulator of the world" around his neck. The track was included on the band's greatest hits
compilation album Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
, issued in 2004.
"Northern Lites" received mostly positive reviews. The NME
listed the song as the "Single of the Week" on its release, with reviewer Johnny Cigarettes stating that the track was "head and shoulders above anything released this or most other weeks". Cigarettes saw "Northern Lites" as indicative of the Super Furry Animals' "genius idiosyncrasy and elegantly eccentric class" and described the song as "somewhere between a Mexican cocktail bar, a '60s surf party, a Vegas lounge show and a really good acid trip". Cigarettes compared the vocal harmonies on the track to those of The Beach Boys
and stated that the song has a "classic, Bacharach
" quality" although he did criticise the indecipherable lyrics which he felt could prevent the record from "its deserved 23-week residence at Number One". In a later review of Guerrilla
, the NME described the song as a "seamless fusion of tumbling xylophones and Caribbean brass". The magazine listed the track at number 3 in their single of the year
list for 1999. "Northern Lites" was also awarded "Single of the Week" in the 15 May 1999 issue of the Melody Maker
by guest reviewers Gay Dad
, who described the song as "twisted and psychedelic". Echoing the views of Johnny Cigarettes, Gay Dad likened the song to the work of Bacharach and Hal David
and complained that they could not fully understand Rhys's lyrics, as his vocals were too low in the mix
.
Writing for Mojo
, James McNair described "Northern Lites" as a mix of "Tijuana brass, steel drums, and itch-scratching Latin percussion" and claimed that the "great" song was "one of the most frothily inventive pop confections" since Super Furry Animals' 1998 track, "Ice Hockey Hair
". In Q
, reviewer Peter Kane stated that the song's combination of "cheesy calypso sway" and "Tijuana brass" were wonderful. Dave Simpson, writing in The Guardian
, claimed that the song was "possibly the first hit to be massively influenced by Tito Puente
." In The Independent
, Tim Perry stated that the "undeniably brilliant" "Northern Lites" was one of the highlights of the Guerrilla album. In a 2005 review of the reissued Guerrilla, Pitchfork
's Marc Hogan described the track as "horn-laden tropicalia"; in an earlier review of Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1, he had called "Northern Lites" "'Deadweight
'-era Beck
tropicalia". Reviewing Songbook... for PopMatters
, Zeth Lundy described "Northern Lites" as "Brazilian-infected", while Ian Wade, reviewing the album for the BBC
, called the song an "indie/calypso crossover" and Alan Woodhouse, reviewing Songbook... for the NME labelled the track an "irresistible Caribbean-flavoured tune." Marc Hogan of Pitchfork claimed that the single's b-sides
, including the "shiny, distorted mid-tempo number" "This, That and the Other", pale beside "Northern Lites" and the other tracks on Guerilla although they "do manage to scratch the itch for more SFA".
, directed by Super Furry Animals and Martin McCarthy, was produced to accompany the release of "Northern Lites" as a single. The video begins with a shot of Super Furry Animals' 'SFA' logo
, which appears on the cover of "Northern Lites", displayed above the words "Public information service". This shot fades to show a full-screen translucent
, fluorescent
blue, image of the "warrior", also from the single's cover, which moves from the centre to the bottom right before shrinking and remaining stationary in the top right for the duration of the video. The SFA logo from the introduction is shown in the top left, opposite the "warrior" image, and also remains throughout the video. Images of an island, the sea and birds in flight are shown before footage of a bearded man, sitting on rocks beside the sea and singing along to the first verse is shown. This footage is intercut
with shots of a man using a hammer
and chisel
on some boulders before walking away with a large rock. The rock is shown being spun and polished into a curling
stone. A yellow handle is added to the stone and it is placed into a wooden box alongside another stone with a red handle. The box is closed and the word Nagano
is seen printed on the lid. The video then cuts to shots of a Boeing 747
before wintery scenes of Nagano are shown, including a shot of people with umbrellas stood in the snow in front of a sign that reads "Nagano Olympics
". Footage from curling events are then shown until 2 minutes and 40 seconds when the video cuts to show a man in a grey suit dropping a handful of grass on a road. The video then ends with shots of Irish road bowling
–several men are shown throwing a bowl down a road surrounded by spectators alongside scenes of men with measuring sticks and men exchanging banknote
s. In a 2008 interview with Uncut
, Gruff Rhys
stated that "Northern Lites" "didn't have a video" and suggested this as the reason the track was not a bigger hit than it was. The director who was originally scheduled to work on the video took up an offer of a Red Stripe
commercial in Jamaica
, leaving the band to collaborate with McCarthy. According to Rhys the group met the original director later and told him "We understand, we'd have done the same." Despite this, bassist
Guto Pryce
has described the "Northern Lites" music video as one of only a handful of the group's videos that he actually likes.
Super Furry Animals
Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band that lean towards psychedelic rock and electronic experimentation. Since their formation in Cardiff, Wales in 1993, the band has consisted of Gruff Rhys , Huw Bunford , Guto Pryce , Cian Ciaran and Dafydd Ieuan Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band...
. It was the first single to be taken from the Guerrilla
Guerrilla (album)
Guerrilla is the third studio album by by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Album Charts. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular...
album and reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
after its release on 10 May 1999. The song was written by singer Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
and was inspired by the El Niño
El Niño-Southern Oscillation
El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years...
phenomenon. The track's title refers to the Aurora Borealis
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
, a natural light display which the band were convinced they had seen prior to the song being written. Rhys wrote the melody for "Northern Lites" several years before it was completed but only decided on a calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
style after he wrote the lyrics. The steel drums on the track are played by keyboardist
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
and were added on the spur of the moment after the group saw them "lying around" Real World Studios
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
during recording.
Critical reaction was largely positive with the song being named "Single of the Week" in both the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
and NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, with the latter also listing the song at number 3 in their single of the year
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...
list for 1999. The music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
for "Northern Lites" was directed by Super Furry Animals and Martin McCarthy and features footage of curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
and Irish road bowling
Irish Road Bowling
Irish road bowling is an ancient sport. It is centered in Ireland - primarily in County Armagh and County Cork. However, it also has players in Boston, Massachusetts; Cambridge, New York, and Bennington, Vermont, vicinity; Traverse City, Michigan; the Bronx, New York; New Zealand; Asheville, North...
although Rhys has blamed the song's failure to chart higher on the fact that it "didn't have a video".
Themes and recording
"Northern Lites" was written by singer Gruff RhysGruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
about "the weather", and was particularly inspired by coverage of the "terrifying, worldwide, seven-year phenomenon" of the west Pacific El Niño
El Niño-Southern Oscillation
El Niño/La Niña-Southern Oscillation, or ENSO, is a quasiperiodic climate pattern that occurs across the tropical Pacific Ocean roughly every five years...
climate pattern
Climate pattern
A climate pattern is any recurring characteristic of the climate. Climate patterns can last tens of thousands of years, like the glacial and interglacial periods within ice ages, or repeat each year, like monsoons....
on "weather channels" in 1998. The song's title refers to the Aurora Borealis
Aurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
, a natural light display which can be observed particularly in the polar regions, and usually at night. The band were convinced that they had seen the lights before the track was written but, as no-one else was present, they could not get confirmation that what they had witnessed was not simply a "Furry fantasy". Rhys has claimed that he would have called the song "Aurora Borealis" but "Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
song titles are out of the question". Although Rhys has said that the song is "about asking Jesus if he decides to seek his revenge on us, to get it over with as soon as possible and blow us away to the Northern Lights" he has also stated that, although some critics have interpreted the track as being about "questioning one's faith", it is really "just a song about the weather".
The melody of "Northern Lites" was written by Rhys several years before the track was released. The band experimented with reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and "dirgy rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
" styles before Rhys wrote the lyrics and, because they were inspired by adverse weather conditions affecting Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
, tried playing along to a preset calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
rhythm track which was on his keyboard
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. The singer has stated that, although he does not think the band have "any right to make Latin-influenced" songs, they did not choose a calypso style for the track in a cynical attempt to "crack South America". The group are not "purists" and feel that Latin music is "part of [a] cultural esperanto
Esperanto
is the most widely spoken constructed international auxiliary language. Its name derives from Doktoro Esperanto , the pseudonym under which L. L. Zamenhof published the first book detailing Esperanto, the Unua Libro, in 1887...
".
The track was recorded in the middle of 1998 at Real World Studios
Real World Studios
Real World Studios is a residential recording studio in Box, Wiltshire, England associated with the Real World Records Ltd. record label founded by rock musician Peter Gabriel...
, Box, Wiltshire
Box, Wiltshire
Box is a village located in Wiltshire, England, about east of Bath and west of Chippenham. It is quite a large parish with several settlements, apart from the village of Box, within its boundaries....
, along with the rest of Guerrilla
Guerrilla (album)
Guerrilla is the third studio album by by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Album Charts. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular...
, and was produced
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
by Super Furry Animals. The band allowed "the music to dictate itself" during recording sessions, choosing to add steel drums on the spur of the moment after seeing the instruments "lying around" Real World during recording. The steel drum parts were performed by keyboardist Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran
Cian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
, despite the fact he did not know how to play them.
Composition
"Northern Lites" is 3 minute and 31 seconds long and is in the keyKey (music)
In music theory, the term key is used in many different and sometimes contradictory ways. A common use is to speak of music as being "in" a specific key, such as in the key of C major or in the key of F-sharp. Sometimes the terms "major" or "minor" are appended, as in the key of A minor or in the...
of E minor
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on the note E. The E natural minor scale consists of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. The E harmonic minor scale contains the natural 7, D, rather than the flatted 7, D – to align with the major dominant chord, B7 .Its key signature has one sharp, F .Its...
. The song begins with an intro
Introduction (music)
In music, the introduction is a passage or section which opens a movement or a separate piece. In popular music this is often abbreviated as intro...
with steel drums, featuring a flanging
Flanging
Flanging is an audio effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal delayed by a small and gradually changing period, usually smaller than 20 milliseconds. This produces a swept comb filter effect: peaks and notches are produced in the resultant frequency spectrum,...
effect, before a brass section
Brass instrument
A brass instrument is a musical instrument whose sound is produced by sympathetic vibration of air in a tubular resonator in sympathy with the vibration of the player's lips...
enters after 6 seconds playing a melody line accompanied by a güiro
Güiro
The güiro is a Latin-American percussion instrument consisting of an open-ended, hollow gourd with parallel notches cut in one side. It is played by rubbing a stick or tines along the notches to produce a ratchet-like sound. The güiro is commonly used in Latin-American music, and plays a key role...
, sparse drums and an acoustic guitar
Acoustic guitar
An acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
playing the chords
Chord (music)
A chord in music is any harmonic set of two–three or more notes that is heard as if sounding simultaneously. These need not actually be played together: arpeggios and broken chords may for many practical and theoretical purposes be understood as chords...
Em7 and A. The melody line plays twice after which Gruff Rhys begins singing the first verse alongside the güiro, guitar and steel drums which no longer have a flange effect. Towards the end of the verse a distorted guitar melody line plays alongside Rhys's vocal and harmony backing vocals
Vocal harmony
Vocal harmony is a style of vocal music in which a consonant note or notes are sung at the same time as a main melody in a predominantly homophonic texture. Vocal harmonies are used in many subgenres of European art music, including Classical choral music and opera and in the popular styles from...
enter. The song's first chorus begins at 48 seconds with Rhys singing "There's a distant light, a forest fire burning everything in sight". During the second verse the brass section rejoins, playing the same melody line from the intro. After another chorus the song's extended "play-out" section begins at 2 minutes and 13 seconds with Rhys repeating the lines "Don't worry me, or hurry me, blow me far away to the Northern Lites" accompanied by harmony backing vocals. The track breaks down
Break (music)
In popular music, a break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a "break" from the main parts of the song or piece....
to just drums and vocals at 2 minutes and 40 seconds after which the band and brass section rejoin. A prominent lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
melody begins after 2 minutes and 47 seconds and plays alongside the vocals, acoustic guitar, brass and drums until the track fades out
Fade (audio engineering)
In audio engineering, a fade is a gradual increase or decrease in the level of an audio signal. The term can also be used for film cinematography or theater lighting, in much the same way ....
and ends at 3 minutes and 31 seconds.
Release and critical reception
"Northern Lites" was released on CD, cassetteCassette single
A cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette.- History :...
and 7"
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on 10 May 1999 and reached number 11 on the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. The cover features a model of a "three-eyed, four-armed, squid-headed Eskimo warrior" designed by artist Pete Fowler
Pete Fowler
Pete Fowler is a Welsh artist best known for his artwork for the Welsh band Super Furry Animals. He is a freelance illustrator and "monster creator" inspired by Japanese art, folklore, myths, psychedelia and super nature...
. The warrior is shown holding "two portable poles of latitude and longitude" and has "the heating regulator of the world" around his neck. The track was included on the band's greatest hits
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
compilation album Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1
Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1 collects all of the Super Furry Animals singles released between 1996 and 2004 as well as B-side "Blerwytirhwng?" . Songbook... was released in the UK in October 2004, debuting at #18 on the UK album charts...
, issued in 2004.
"Northern Lites" received mostly positive reviews. The NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
listed the song as the "Single of the Week" on its release, with reviewer Johnny Cigarettes stating that the track was "head and shoulders above anything released this or most other weeks". Cigarettes saw "Northern Lites" as indicative of the Super Furry Animals' "genius idiosyncrasy and elegantly eccentric class" and described the song as "somewhere between a Mexican cocktail bar, a '60s surf party, a Vegas lounge show and a really good acid trip". Cigarettes compared the vocal harmonies on the track to those of The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...
and stated that the song has a "classic, Bacharach
Burt Bacharach
Burt F. Bacharach is an American pianist, composer and music producer. He is known for his popular hit songs and compositions from the mid-1950s through the 1980s, with lyrics written by Hal David. Many of their hits were produced specifically for, and performed by, Dionne Warwick...
" quality" although he did criticise the indecipherable lyrics which he felt could prevent the record from "its deserved 23-week residence at Number One". In a later review of Guerrilla
Guerrilla (album)
Guerrilla is the third studio album by by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals. The record was released on 14 June 1999 by Creation Records and peaked at number 10 in the UK Album Charts. Guerrilla was conceived as a commercial 'pop' album and was produced by the band themselves, as regular...
, the NME described the song as a "seamless fusion of tumbling xylophones and Caribbean brass". The magazine listed the track at number 3 in their single of the year
NME single of the year
Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9...
list for 1999. "Northern Lites" was also awarded "Single of the Week" in the 15 May 1999 issue of the Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
by guest reviewers Gay Dad
Gay Dad
In 2001 the leading single from Transmission - "Now Always and Forever" - was released. It fell just short of the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. An extensive UK tour was followed by a limited edition single "Harder, Faster". The third single "Transmission" was released just before the album came...
, who described the song as "twisted and psychedelic". Echoing the views of Johnny Cigarettes, Gay Dad likened the song to the work of Bacharach and Hal David
Hal David
Harold Lane "Hal" David is an American lyricist. He grew up in Brooklyn, New York. David is best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach.-Career:...
and complained that they could not fully understand Rhys's lyrics, as his vocals were too low in the mix
Audio mixing (recorded music)
In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may...
.
Writing for Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...
, James McNair described "Northern Lites" as a mix of "Tijuana brass, steel drums, and itch-scratching Latin percussion" and claimed that the "great" song was "one of the most frothily inventive pop confections" since Super Furry Animals' 1998 track, "Ice Hockey Hair
Ice Hockey Hair
Ice Hockey Hair is an EP by the Welsh alternative rock band Super Furry Animals, released in 1998. The record contains four songs which the band felt did not fit in with either their previous album, 1997's Radiator, or its follow-up Guerrilla. The title track refers to an alternative name for the...
". In Q
Q (magazine)
Q is a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom.Founders Mark Ellen and David Hepworth were dismayed by the music press of the time, which they felt was ignoring a generation of older music buyers who were buying CDs — then still a new technology...
, reviewer Peter Kane stated that the song's combination of "cheesy calypso sway" and "Tijuana brass" were wonderful. Dave Simpson, writing in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, claimed that the song was "possibly the first hit to be massively influenced by Tito Puente
Tito Puente
Tito Puente, , born Ernesto Antonio Puente, was a Latin jazz and Salsa musician. The son of native Puerto Ricans Ernest and Ercilia Puente, of Spanish Harlem in New York City, Puente is often credited as "El Rey de los Timbales" and "The King of Latin Music"...
." In The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
, Tim Perry stated that the "undeniably brilliant" "Northern Lites" was one of the highlights of the Guerrilla album. In a 2005 review of the reissued Guerrilla, Pitchfork
Pitchfork Media
Pitchfork Media, usually known simply as Pitchfork or P4k, is a Chicago-based daily Internet publication established in 1995 that is devoted to music criticism and commentary, music news, and artist interviews. Its focus is on underground and independent music, especially indie rock...
's Marc Hogan described the track as "horn-laden tropicalia"; in an earlier review of Songbook: The Singles, Vol. 1, he had called "Northern Lites" "'Deadweight
Deadweight (song)
"Deadweight" is a single by Beck, taken from the soundtrack to the film A Life Less Ordinary. The song was nominated for Best Song from a Movie at the 1998 MTV Movie Awards, but lost out to Will Smith's "Men in Black". The song can also be found on the Deluxe Edition of Odelay.-Music video:This...
'-era Beck
Beck
Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...
tropicalia". Reviewing Songbook... for PopMatters
PopMatters
PopMatters is an international webzine of cultural criticism that covers many aspects of popular culture. PopMatters publishes reviews, interviews, and detailed essays on most cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, films, books, video games, comics, sports, theater,...
, Zeth Lundy described "Northern Lites" as "Brazilian-infected", while Ian Wade, reviewing the album for the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, called the song an "indie/calypso crossover" and Alan Woodhouse, reviewing Songbook... for the NME labelled the track an "irresistible Caribbean-flavoured tune." Marc Hogan of Pitchfork claimed that the single's b-sides
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
, including the "shiny, distorted mid-tempo number" "This, That and the Other", pale beside "Northern Lites" and the other tracks on Guerilla although they "do manage to scratch the itch for more SFA".
Accolades
| Publication | Country | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Iguana Music | Spain Spain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
Songs '99 | 1999 | 7 |
| John Peel John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004... show, BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock... |
United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
John Peel's Festive 50 Festive Fifty The Festive Fifty was originally an annual list of the year's fifty best songs compiled at the end of the year and voted for by listeners to John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show... |
24 | |
| Melody Maker Melody Maker Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody... |
Single of the Week 15 May 1999 | – | ||
| NME NME The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles... |
Single of the Week 8 May 1999 | – | ||
| Singles of 1999 NME single of the year Every December, British music magazine NME compiles a list of what it considers the best single or track of the year. It was started in 1975. The list is usually published in one of the issues sold before Christmas – in 2006 it was published in the issue for December 9... |
3 | |||
| Select | Singles of 1999 | 22 |
Music video
A promotional music videoMusic video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
, directed by Super Furry Animals and Martin McCarthy, was produced to accompany the release of "Northern Lites" as a single. The video begins with a shot of Super Furry Animals' 'SFA' logo
Logo
A logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
, which appears on the cover of "Northern Lites", displayed above the words "Public information service". This shot fades to show a full-screen translucent
Transparency and translucency
In the field of optics, transparency is the physical property of allowing light to pass through a material; translucency only allows light to pass through diffusely. The opposite property is opacity...
, fluorescent
Fluorescence
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light or other electromagnetic radiation of a different wavelength. It is a form of luminescence. In most cases, emitted light has a longer wavelength, and therefore lower energy, than the absorbed radiation...
blue, image of the "warrior", also from the single's cover, which moves from the centre to the bottom right before shrinking and remaining stationary in the top right for the duration of the video. The SFA logo from the introduction is shown in the top left, opposite the "warrior" image, and also remains throughout the video. Images of an island, the sea and birds in flight are shown before footage of a bearded man, sitting on rocks beside the sea and singing along to the first verse is shown. This footage is intercut
Cut (filmmaking)
In the post-production process of film editing and video editing, a cut is an abrupt, but usually trivial film transition from one sequence to another. It is synonymous with the term edit, though "edit" can imply any number of transitions or effects. The cut, dissolve and wipe serve as the three...
with shots of a man using a hammer
Hammer
A hammer is a tool meant to deliver an impact to an object. The most common uses are for driving nails, fitting parts, forging metal and breaking up objects. Hammers are often designed for a specific purpose, and vary widely in their shape and structure. The usual features are a handle and a head,...
and chisel
Chisel
A chisel is a tool with a characteristically shaped cutting edge of blade on its end, for carving or cutting a hard material such as wood, stone, or metal. The handle and blade of some types of chisel are made of metal or wood with a sharp edge in it.In use, the chisel is forced into the material...
on some boulders before walking away with a large rock. The rock is shown being spun and polished into a curling
Curling
Curling is a sport in which players slide stones across a sheet of ice towards a target area. It is related to bowls, boule and shuffleboard. Two teams, each of four players, take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones, also called "rocks", across the ice curling sheet towards the house, a...
stone. A yellow handle is added to the stone and it is placed into a wooden box alongside another stone with a red handle. The box is closed and the word Nagano
Nagano, Nagano
, the capital city of Nagano Prefecture, is located in the northern part of the prefecture near the confluence of the Chikuma and the Sai rivers, on the main Japanese island of Honshū.As of April 1, 2011 the city has a population of 387,146...
is seen printed on the lid. The video then cuts to shots of a Boeing 747
Boeing 747
The Boeing 747 is a wide-body commercial airliner and cargo transport, often referred to by its original nickname, Jumbo Jet, or Queen of the Skies. It is among the world's most recognizable aircraft, and was the first wide-body ever produced...
before wintery scenes of Nagano are shown, including a shot of people with umbrellas stood in the snow in front of a sign that reads "Nagano Olympics
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
". Footage from curling events are then shown until 2 minutes and 40 seconds when the video cuts to show a man in a grey suit dropping a handful of grass on a road. The video then ends with shots of Irish road bowling
Irish Road Bowling
Irish road bowling is an ancient sport. It is centered in Ireland - primarily in County Armagh and County Cork. However, it also has players in Boston, Massachusetts; Cambridge, New York, and Bennington, Vermont, vicinity; Traverse City, Michigan; the Bronx, New York; New Zealand; Asheville, North...
–several men are shown throwing a bowl down a road surrounded by spectators alongside scenes of men with measuring sticks and men exchanging banknote
Banknote
A banknote is a kind of negotiable instrument, a promissory note made by a bank payable to the bearer on demand, used as money, and in many jurisdictions is legal tender. In addition to coins, banknotes make up the cash or bearer forms of all modern fiat money...
s. In a 2008 interview with Uncut
UNCUT (magazine)
Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, but also includes film and books sections...
, Gruff Rhys
Gruff Rhys
Gruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
stated that "Northern Lites" "didn't have a video" and suggested this as the reason the track was not a bigger hit than it was. The director who was originally scheduled to work on the video took up an offer of a Red Stripe
Red Stripe
Red Stripe is a Jamaican lager beer whose logo is a bold, diagonal red stripe. It is brewed by Desnoes & Geddes Limited, originally a soft drink manufacturer incorporated on July 31, 1918, by Kingston, Jamaica natives Eugene Peter Desnoes and Thomas Hargreaves Geddes...
commercial in Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, leaving the band to collaborate with McCarthy. According to Rhys the group met the original director later and told him "We understand, we'd have done the same." Despite this, bassist
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
Guto Pryce
Guto Pryce
Guto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....
has described the "Northern Lites" music video as one of only a handful of the group's videos that he actually likes.
Tracklisting
All songs by Super Furry Animals.- CD (CRESCD314), MCCassette singleA cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette.- History :...
(CRES314), 7"Gramophone recordA gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
(CRE314)
- "Northern Lites" – 3:30
- "Rabid Dog" – 3:47
- "This, That and the Other " – 5:59
Personnel
- Gruff RhysGruff RhysGruffydd Maredudd Bowen Rhys is a Welsh musician, performing solo and with several bands, including Super Furry Animals who obtained mainstream success in the 1990s. He also most recently formed the electro-pop outfit Neon Neon with Boom Bip. Their album Stainless Style was nominated for the 2008...
– vocals - Huw BunfordHuw BunfordHuw "Bunf" Bunford is the guitarist in the rock band, Super Furry Animals.-Biography:...
– guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - Guto PryceGuto PryceGuto Dafydd Pryce is a bass guitar player in the band Super Furry Animals.The name Guto is pronounced in Welsh....
– bass guitarBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick.... - Cian CiaranCian CiaranCian Ciaran is the keyboard player in the band, Super Furry Animals.Ciaran is the brother of Dafydd Ieuan . He plays keyboards, electronics and occasional guitar, drums, steel drum and vocals...
– keyboards, steel drums - Dafydd IeuanDafydd IeuanDafydd Ieuan is the drummer with the band, Super Furry Animals and The Peth. He currently lives in Cardiff with his wife Debbie, and their two children Cai and Lleucu....
– drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Steve Waterman - trumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- A D Gibson - trumpet
- Andrew Robinson - tromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Euros Wyn - fluteFluteThe flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
- Kris Jenkins - percussionPercussion instrumentA percussion instrument is any object which produces a sound when hit with an implement or when it is shaken, rubbed, scraped, or otherwise acted upon in a way that sets the object into vibration...
Singles chart position
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
11 |