Next week, Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals fame) is headed out on tour with This Is The Kit, whose latest album he produced. And Rhys now has some fresh material of his own to promote: He’s just announced a new solo album, Sadness Sets Me Free, his first full-length since 2021’s Seeking New Gods, though he’s also put out some stray tracks and a score since then.

Today, Rhys is sharing the album’s lead single “Celestial Candyfloss,” which he described as “”is an attempted pocket symphony about the cosmic lengths that people will travel in the pursuit of love and acceptance.” As for its accompanying video, he said: “Mark James has brought the Sadness Sets Me Free album cover to life & managed to place me watching TV interference in a shipping container that’s lost in space.”

“For what is apparently the 25th album I’ve had a hand in writing I’ve reverted to a rich seam of inspiration relating to shedding some light on sadness and the general terror of cosmic loneliness,” Rhys concluded. Watch and listen below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Sadness Sets Me Free”
02 “Bad Friend”
03 “Celestial Candyfloss”
04 “Silver Lining (lead balloons)”
05 “On The Far Side Of The Dollar”
06 “They Sold My Home To Build A skyscraper”
07 “Peace Signs”
08 “Cover up The Cover Up”
09 “I Tended My Resignation”
10 “I’ll Keep Singing”

TOUR DATES:
10/11 New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge#
10/12 Brooklyn, NY @ Union Pool
10/13 Philadelphia, PA @ Johnny Brenda’s #
10/14 Washington, DC @ Songbyrd #
10/17 Toronto, ON @ The Drake Hotel
10/19 Chicago, IL @ Lincoln Hall
10/20 Milwaukee, WI @ The Back Room at Colectivo Coffee #
10/21 Minneapolis, MN @ Turf Club #
10/27-29 Caernarfon, UK @ Caernarfon Castle
11/05 Brighton, UK @ Mutations Festival
12/01 Glasgow, UK @ Barrowlands ^
12/02 Liverpool, UK @ Olympia ^
02/02 Aberystwyth, UK @ Arts Centre
# = w/ This Is The Kit
^ = w/ The Coral

Sadness Sets Me Free is out 1/24 via Rough Trade.