Pitchfork

"Love" is a many-splendored word, useful for whatever, but when it comes to parts of speech, "lust" gets the intransitive-verb shaft. Way to be puritanical, English-speakers: "I want you" doesn't quite have the same ring, does it? Super Furry Animals member Gruff Rhys has long been known for cross-lingual puns in his native Welsh (his one-time band name Ffa Coffi Pawb meant either "Everybody's Coffee Beans" or "Fuck Off, Everybody"), and he gleefully takes some much-needed liberties with the English language on the latest track from his Neon Neon project with Los Angeles-based producer Boom Bip.

Like other songs we've heard from Neon Neon's long-forthcoming Stainless Style, "I Lust U" puts contemporary-sounding electronic beats beneath synths with enough cocaine on them for a million dollar bills; check out some of the duo's professed influences on a previously posted mixtape. Welsh singer Cate Le Bon lends a rich, emotionally detached vocal here, presumably in the role of Raquel, as she equates love with money. Rhys gets the best one-liner-- "You and I get along strenuously"-- and is also pretty concerned with dollar signs. No specific mentions of Neon Neon inspiration John DeLorean here, but certainly somebody out there has enough stacks to get the dictionary changed.

Stream:> Neon Neon: "I Lust U"
[from Stainless Style; due 03/18/08 on Lex]