Listeners may not be able to say it’s over, but in the words of Crowded House, they can certainly dream it’s over. The “it” in question? Gaz Coombes’ latest track, Don’t Say It’s Over. That space-like introduction with synth leftovers from Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino reflects rather strangely on what Coombes hopes to accomplish with this single from the upcoming album Turn the Car Around. Despite that obvious connotation that comes from late-stage Arctic Monkeys, there is quality mixing appropriate to the conventional but ever-so-slightly uplifted charms of this Coombes solo piece, where the lyrics are fine but fall away to a bashful, pop-like chorus.
If it were not for the strength shown from verse to verse then there is a good chance Don’t Say It’s Over would have slumped away as a nothing track. Coombes keeps focus and litters in some definitive cries of clarity alongside a tremendous, broad selection of instrumentals. That wailing, pitched guitar would mean so much more if it were building up to a lyrical pay-off worth sticking around for. To Coombes’ credit, this is possibly the most substantial single used to promote the album and his lyrical triumphs have always been rock-dependent and shaky at the best of times. But there is a charm to that, and those fundamentals are carried over to this track, its opening synth and space-like production never quite forgotten throughout.
Turning worlds around and slugging pints in those empty local bars are a comforting thought and premise, though. There is anxiety clear and becoming in Don’t Say It’s Over that Coombes successfully manoeuvres. It is just without that next step; it does not have a goal of anything particularly major. Ships and tides. Falling through time. These are general proclivities that Coombes grasps at to try and craft a visual accompaniment to his storytelling attempts on Don’t Say It’s Over. It is not that they do not work, it is that they have been heard before, rattled out by those in the same position of gratitude and fear as heard in this latest singles piece. Will this be the path Coombes travels for the rest of his career? By all means, his lyrics here seem to confirm that, for as long as he can do it, he shall.
Comforting that may be, it is clear to see that there is plenty of room to grow on the solo trajectory of Coombes. Early days, of course, and Don’t Say It’s Over is arguably the most interesting it has been. It is not that Coombes disappoints or distracts from any glaring issues with the track, there are none to really distract from, it just isn’t a track that can take itself to that next level. That fundamental, real distinction between what has come before it. It cannot challenge what may come next, either. Coombes’ latest is a forgettable piece but an identifiable one, a personal one that lifts its emotional highs from the title track of Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino, a better, space-like track that hopes to reform artistic clarity as Coombes hopes for here.
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