Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha

I reviewed the new Supergrass album last week, for Drum Media in Sydney:SUPERGRASS
Diamond Hoo Ha

When Supergrass released Road to Rouen back in 2005, a decade after they had burst onto the Britpop scene with the stunning I Should Coco, it seemed they had left their jaunty indie-pop roots behind them. However, if the brooding, psychedelic folk-pop of that recording showed a band growing old gracefully and moving on, then Diamond Hoo Ha sees them return to what they know best.

Named after the temporary touring project of frontman Gaz Coombes and drummer Danny Goffey while bassist Mick Quinn recuperated after sleepwalking through a first floor window, the album sees a smile returning to the reunited band’s face through a familiar brand of perky melodies with glam rock sensibilities.

Ok, so maybe this is merely the sound of a bunch of elder statesmen trying to recapture the vibrancy of their youth, but they certainly haven’t lost their knack of writing tunes so outrageously catchy that you’ll be humming them in your sleep. Big and brash in its production, the album opens with Coombes screaming “Bite me” in the chorus of the title track like a man who has rediscovered his mojo, while Rebel in You is the kind of joyously singalong tune that the band is renowned for. Elsewhere, Coombes’ vocal strangely wanders into Bob Dylan territory in Ghost of a Friend.

Supergrass simply don’t release bad records, and though Diamond Hoo Ha isn’t the best of their six so far, it’s a genuine grower with enough effervescence to suggest that, 13 years after their debut, there’s life in the old dogs yet.