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Can there have been a band more productive on hiatus than Super Furry Animals?

While frontman Gruff Rhys sweeps all before him with his multi-award nominated, multimedia extravaganza American Interior; bass player Guto Pryce enchants and delights with the dreamlit electronica of Gulp; synth wizard and production don Cian Ciaran continues to dazzle with the stylistic diversity of his mighty solo canon; and drummer Dafydd Ieuan goes for the soul jugular with his group The Earth and his Welsh version of Hitsville USA – Strangetown Records.

The one member of the Furries who we’ve heard little from is the band’s guitarist Huw “Bunf” Bunford. That is, until now.

The musician has announced details of Lots of Dots – the debut album from The Pale Blue Dots – a project borne out of his studies 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 studies and both realising they were “on the same planet”.

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 next month, 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.

“This is our Jekyll and Hyde moment,” says Bunf.

“We love pop music, but we also like to lie down, listen to something, and not have to get up to press ‘next track’ for at least half an hour. The album definitely has a number of songs that could find themselves on the radio, but over the coming months we’re looking to take people on a journey into sound.

"By distributing found sounds online, and forming new compositions using archive material, The Pale Blue Dots is going to set out to demonstrate the pure pleasure in just listening.”

As well as continuing to work as a musician, Bunf is a secret collector of sounds, amassing a significant collection of audio cassettes full of recordings made during his global travels. Many of these will be gradually introduced into The Pale Blue Dots’ recordings.

His exploration and appropriation of atmospheric sounds saw him commissioned by The Whitworth Gallery, Manchester in 2012, being set free to gather sounds from University of Manchester grounds, including Jodrell Bank, to be used later in a collaborative performance with artist, Naomi Kashiwagi.

“Music isn’t all about pop, nor is it about rigid composition structures or completely abstract soundscapes,” adds Richard. “It is all of those things at once.

"The Pale Blue Dots is a project of complete freedom, with Bunf and I exploring mutual interests in sounds that come to us freely as well as working together to create new songs and soundscapes that give listeners something to hold on to.”

Lots of Dots is released on Monday, November 3 on Strangetown Records