Super Furry Animals singer Gruff Rhys has merged acoustic song with the mobile phone revolution. Chris Price found out how.

Musicians are always looking for new sources of inspiration but Gruff Rhys even surprised himself when he found it in an iPhone app.

Earlier this year the Super Furry Animals frontman was asked to write the music for an app called Whale Trail. Players pilot Willow The Whale as he flies through the skies collecting colours and points. When Gruff started work on the music and the voiceover, he was inspired to compose a song of the same name.

Later this month the track is released as a double A-side single with his track Space Dust #2.

Gruff said: “They didn’t ask for the song but I ended up writing one anyway because it is such a visual game. The lyrics are totally inspired by it.

“The app is basically a work of art and people have written songs inspired by various books and paintings. I have written a song inspired by a video game.

“When I was in the studio it was the same time as the recent riots and this game was quite escapist so I was trying to figure out how life could become as utopian as the Whale Trail game. It is an incredibly colourful and stress free world and the message of the song is we can get there if we tax the rich more so there is less social division.

“It is quite far removed from most people’s lives but you have got to be ambitious.”

While Gruff’s inspiration may be unusual he is certainly a man of his word when it comes to ambition. In a little over a year he has released an album with a Brazilian TV repairman called Tony Da Gatorra and featured alongside De La Soul and Gorillaz on a song about a fictional fast-food breakfast product. He has also exhibited his own art installation created from hoarded hotel paraphernalia and collaborated with visual artist Phil Collins, all while recording and touring his solo album Hotel Shampoo.

“I don’t think my schedule is too crazy” said Gruff, 41. “When I did the vocal with Gorillaz that took two days of my life. Over a year that is not a lot of time.”

This week sees Gruff round off touring the new album at Ashford’s St Mary’s Church. He will play mainly solo material with a few bits from his collaboration with Tony Da Gatorra but fans of Super Furry Animals will not hear any of the band’s songs from their nine albums in his set.

“My solo stuff is pretty mellow so it is conducive to people sitting down. The fact I don’t play any Super Furry Animals stuff is a drag for people who like them but I can’t do those songs justice on my own so it would be unfair to the fans and the band.”

He added: “I’m looking forward to this last stretch. Tours get better and better and we will be super tight by the time we get to Ashford. This show will be the culmination of a year of touring so it should be really special. Then it is back to the real world of looking after my kids.”

Gruff Rhys rounds off his solo tour at Ashford’s St Mary’s Church on Thursday, October 13. The digital double A-side single and Whale Trail game will be released on Thursday, October 20 and a limited-edition 12” vinyl single on Monday, October 31.