Supergrass, known for "Pumping on Your Stereo" and feeling "Alright" in the 90s, released their seventh album, titled Diamond Hoo Ha, in the U.K. March 24. The album is slowly making its way to the United States, with a release date on Astralwerks set for June 10, although the entire album is already available online through iTunes and other mp3 vendors. For fans of Supergrass' pre-millennial work, pay-per-song purchasing might be a good idea for this album anyway.
This release is a continuation in the band's evolution from the cheeky Brits who sang "we are young / we run free," to a melancholy, mature group. Instead of worrying about getting "Caught by the Fuzz," like they were in 1995 on I Should Coco, in this release they ruminate on their life choices and chance encounters.
"Butterfly," the final and standout track on the album, refers to the "butterfly effect," or the sensitivity of large chaotic systems to minuscule differences in initial conditions. Frontman Gaz Coombes sings "millions of people with butterfly wings / your tiny decisions / could lead to anything." The themes of fate and chaos run through the rest of the lyrics as well, with imagery of "driving through space" and leaving an impact through graffiti on bathroom walls. The fourth track, "When I Needed You" also touches on these themes with repetition of the lines "Ever wondered how we all get through / Maybe someone's watching over you."
Both tracks are the most melodic on the album as well, contrasting with the lead-off tracks "Diamond Hoo Ha Man" and "Bad Blood", which are drenched in fuzzy power chords and were also chosen as the first two singles off the album. These two tracks can be summed up as generic, both lyrically and instrumentally. That they were selected as the album's first singles points to the larger problem with the album as a whole: it seems like Supergrass is trying to conform to some "Brit Rock" standard of brash guitars and vacuous nightlife narratives.
Instead of youthful energy, though, these tracks are full of references to "jitter shakes", "dirty streets" and "the gutter's strangle hold," giving the CD dark, melancholy undertones that continue throughout the 11-track offering. It's as if the band are reflecting on episodes in their lives instead of continuing to live them. In "Rebel in You," the line "can't save the rebel in you" is repeated with a hint of detached sadness that lends finality to the words. In "345," Coombes laments "I always try to walk the line / but I couldn't see it / so many times, you said you'd leave / but I didn't believe it." The hindsight and instrumentation in "345" makes the vocals come across as weary and penitent.
In "Butterfly," Coombes states "I could be crazy / if only you'd let me," and, from his intonation, it is not clear whether this sanity is positive or negative. Perhaps the "you" he refers to shaped the recording of this album, leaving one to wonder about the possible "butterfly effect" of this person on the work of the band. Supergrass were better in the past, when they were a little "crazy" and a band fighting for their unique sound to be heard instead of hoping to fit in. 3
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