Gaz Coombes
Turn the Car Around
Gaz Coombes has shared Turn The Car Around, a cohesive fourth album that bookends a trio of solo records released by the Supergrass frontman.
Coombes described Turn The Car Around as “a record that I’ve been building up to for the last seven years.” The just-released project bookends what has been a trilogy of full-length releases by the Supergrass frontman, which began with Matador in 2015 and continued with second entry World’s Strongest Man in 2018.
It’s 30 years since Gaz Coombes formed Supergrass, the teen rock band who sold millions of their debut album, 1995’s I Should Coco, and still draw big audiences for their reunion tours.
So the genial Englishman has spent some two-thirds of his life being a rock star, and this fourth solo album proves he’s still pretty good at it.
“I’m always looking for that amazing record. I’m still as passionate as I was when I was 17.”
While Coombes isn’t keen on trying to recapture Supergrass’s sylvan magic in the streaming era – their final album, Release the Drones, remains unfinished and unreleased – he sounds as youthful and engaged as he did in those cassette tape days.
Much of the baroque experimentalism that powered Matador and World’s Strongest Man has been dialled down, but the band’s intoxicating, questing spirit throbs through the strongest suite of music Coombes has assembled in 20 years.
Gorgeous, heartfelt pieces dedicated to his wife and kids (Don’t Say It’s Over, Not the Only Things) nestle up next to heartfelt, gorgeous songs about lizard metamorphosis and murdered middleweight boxing champions.
The latter, Sonny the Strong, brings the sharp edge of sadness and regret that has often studded his songs fully to the fore, and is one of the best things he’s ever done.
“Stories about what people go through to keep surviving are always fascinating”
released January 13, 2023
