Gaz Coombes 'Here Come The Bombs' (Hot Fruit)

Going it alone for the first time, Supergrass frontman Gaz Coombes releases 'Here Come The Bombs'. According to Coombes himself, The Bombs are the band that backs his entire creative process, and what a creative process it must have been because this album is by far the most experimental Coombes has ever been.

Instrumentally sporadic throughout - one minute Coombes can be heard playing an electric guitar which then gets switched up mid record for an acoustic (‘Sub Divider’), the album has an electro feel unlike any other record released this year. While the conventional indie project might dabble in a few electronic effects here and there trying hard not to lose the stereotypical indie sound, Coombes has crafted a masterpiece of epic proportions exempt from being genre defined.

Take for example the futuristically supersonic ‘Universal Cinema’. With an instrumental array of randomness, which at times sounds like a mash up between Kasabian, Kings of Leon, and Portishead, the results are ultimately pleasing to the ear. The rigorous drum riff at the beginning of the record, which plays second fiddle to Coombes’ gruff vocal tone, fades in and out depending on when the song’s loud and reckless bridge comes in to play.

There is no underlining theme to 'Here Come The Bombs' whatsoever, which actually makes things a little exciting as far as flicking through the track listing. One minute you’re subject to a fast paced guitar heavy smash - ‘Hot Fruit’, and the next you find yourself enjoying instrumental scene setter - ‘Daydream on a Street Corner’. Either way there’s absolutely no chance of disappointment.

Closing the album is ‘Sleeping Giant’, a beautiful piano-driven offering where Coombes actually lightens the mood vocally. Singing, “The days were empty and long, like an empty car ride/ I’m only talking to myself,” as well as, “Waking up in outer space, falling in silence still,” as the listener you’re left in a state of blissful confusion. Pondering the lyrical content but at the same time enjoying the relaxing close to an album with huge amounts of experimental charm, there’s no escaping how good the song is.

It’s apparent that Gaz Coombes has taken all of the experience he’s picked up over his long and illustrious career, absorbed some tips from the new school, and approached this project from a direction not usually travelled by an established artist. To be great sometimes you have to take risks. Here Comes The Bombs is that risk. Fleeting through more than its fair share of genres and styles, the combined atmospheric and instrumental qualities heard on this album are similar to that of a movie score. Think Tarantino meets the Beatles, with a bit of John Barry thrown in to the mix for good measure.