SUPERGRASS ROAD TO ROUEN CAPITOL

Supergrass are beloved for early glam-pop blasts like "Caught by the Fuzz" and "Mansize Rooster" — and for good reason. But in spite of their playful punkish energy, the trio (Gaz, Danny, Mickey) still found themselves lumped in with ’90s Britpop. They’ve cooled their jets over the past decade, and the result is their most cohesive statement. All of the band’s good points, from sweetly melancholic sing-alongs to nasal Bowie-esque rockers to stumbling pub pounders, find their place on Road to Rouen. Opener "Tales of Endurance (Parts 4, 5 & 6)" stretches guitars and brass over a yearning melody like some parallel "Wish You Were Here." "St. Petersburg" shuffles sadly with icy piano and sweeping strings. The sleepy fragrance of "Fin" recalls John Lennon’s "#9 Dream"; "Coffee in the Pot" may be meant to confound, with its busker’s belt and a groove that’s part Link Wray, part Russian folk dance. The album’s reveries are balanced by an unquenched will to rawk, as the glammy title track, a hurly-burly of whiplash guitars and roadkill sound effects, makes clear.