Album Review: Gaz Coombes Presents Here Come The Bombs

You'll know Gaz Coombes as the lamb-chopped frontman of legendary indie-rockers Supergrass. Well, after six acclaimed albums with the loveable English band, he is setting out on his own.

The whirling Sub Divider and Hot Fruit are paeans to early '90s melodic rock music with catchy hooks and tightly strummed chords. If that sounds kinda familiar, then it probably should. There are a fair few moments on Here Come The Bombs which are reminiscent of his former band. For instance, the driving guitars and powerful chorus of Whore - “Everybody is a whore/Every fucker's getting sold out” - could have been lifted straight out of their back-catalogue.

Well, with that distinct and familiar vocal it was always going to be hard to completely reinvent this particular wheel, so, rather, the Brit's debut album doesn't attempt to completely forget his past, but rather takes what made Supergrass great and gives it a personal, more experimental, electro-tinged edge. Opener Bombs is an example of this, with plinky plonky electronica sitting beneath a sweeping melody, while Break The Silence's throbbing beat has both eyes on the dancefloor. Elsewhere, Universal Cinema shows serious ambition, clocking in at more than six minutes and with an interesting structure that builds slowly from an acoustic opening into a woozy rock-out via a heavenly choir.

There is enough that is new and intriguing about Here Come The Bombs to make it a very worthwhile project, while fans of Coombes' previous band will be more than happy with what they hear too. So, all in all, everyone wins – and you can't ask for more than that from a debut.

You'll know Gaz Coombes as the lamb-chopped frontman of legendary indie-rockers Supergrass. Well, after six acclaimed albums with the loveable English band, he is setting out on his own.

The whirling Sub Dividerand Hot Fruit are paeans to early '90s melodic rock music with catchy hooks and tightly strummed chords. If that sounds kinda familiar, then it probably should. There are a fair few moments on Here Come The Bombs which are reminiscent of his former band. For instance, the driving guitars and powerful chorus of Whore - “Everybody is a whore/Every fucker's getting sold out” - could have been lifted straight out of their back-catalogue.

Well, with that distinct and familiar vocal it was always going to be hard to completely reinvent this particular wheel, so, rather, the Brit's debut album doesn't attempt to completely forget his past, but rather takes what made Supergrass great and gives it a personal, more experimental, electro-tinged edge. Opener Bombs is an example of this, with plinky plonky electronica sitting beneath a sweeping melody, while Break The Silence's throbbing beat has both eyes on the dancefloor. Elsewhere, Universal Cinema shows serious ambition, clocking in at more than six minutes and with an interesting structure that builds slowly from an acoustic opening into a woozy rock-out via a heavenly choir.

There is enough that is new and intriguing about Here Come The Bombs to make it a very worthwhile project, while fans of Coombes' previous band will be more than happy with what they hear too. So, all in all, everyone wins – and you can't ask for more than that from a debut.