Supergrass makes a giant leap forward on Rouen
By NICK TAVARES
STATIC and FEEDBACK Editor
More often than not, the fifth-sixth-seventh album phase of a band's career winds up disappointing, even for some of the great bands of the world. The youthful energy escapes with the never-ending march of time and is replaced with a world-weary professionalism that makes for good, but not tantalizing, records. Many of the greats fall into this. The Who had noticeably lost an edge by the time of Who Are You, their seventh studio record; Led Zeppelin were a far different band by the time of Presence; and so on.
This isn’t always the case, though. Some bands take totally unexpected leaps into the unknown, with absolutely no warning to the listener as to what lies ahead. It’s here we find Supergrass. Though they’ve hinted at a rising maturity since In it for the Money, the jump they make on Road to Rouen is startling.
Through each album, Supergrass has changed a bit for the better, displaying a tighter, more experimental song craft while keeping a hint at the manic punk that broke them and drove them in the first place. In more subtle songs like “Pumping on Your Stero,” for example, remained a hint of “Mansize Rooster.” This made their catalog sound very linear — you could line up their albums in your player end-to-end for one mega album and have mesh surprisingly well. That might not work anymore if one were to add Road to Rouen to the mix.
Kicking it all off is “Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5 & 6),” a deep, involved blend of strings, acoustic guitars and abstract lyrics that sounds worlds away from Life on Other Planets, the band’s previous album. They’ve been experimental, sure, but here they create a soundscape that would’ve been right at home on a Beatles album had the band continued after Abbey Road and Let it Be. It’s lush and full, but never pretentious — it maintains the edge of their best work.
The first hint of what could’ve been the more logical step in the Supergrass evolution shows up on “Roxy,” which has more of a rock feel but still expands far beyond three chords and an attitude. On “Road to Rouen,” Gaz Coombes’ voice returns somewhat to the nasal warble that is oh-so familiar, backed by a vicious riff, and “Kick in the Teeth” would’ve sounded right at home on last year’s Supergrass is 10 compilation, but it’s not as basic as that. There’s down moments, stops and starts, all which I imagine would sound wicked live. There’s a natural dynamic to the music that creates tension, more so than on anything they’ve done before.
They’ve kept their sense of humor, too. The instrumental “Coffee in the Pot” serves as an intermission between the two halves of the record, the latter being in more of the rock vein with the first acting as definitely more challenging than expected.
The good bands always keep the listener on their toes. Even if Road to Rouen isn’t an obvious knockout, it’s one of the most engaging and intriguinging listens of the year. This one is destined to show up on a few “best of the year” lists at the end of the year. So find out what the fuss is about before the fuss is made.
E-mail Nick Tavares at nick@staticandfeedback.com