THERE’S a line in the title track of former Supergrass singer Gaz Coombes’s second album Matador: “the hardest fight is the one you fight alone”.

“The title Matador is kind of the metaphor for the album,” says Coombes, as he returns to the town he called home nine years ago.

“It’s being exposed and on your own. There are times in your life when you have this stomping beast coming towards you and you have to dodge out of the way.

“That line is really about togetherness and friendship and family. We need people around us, a shoulder to lean on, a connection. Through this album there’s a lot of that.”

The follow-up to 2012’s Here Come The Bombs has been met with a storm of critical approval, with Mojo magazine awarding it a rare five-star instant classic status.

“You have got to take it with a pinch of salt as much as if it was a s*** review,” laughs Coombes. “I don’t know if I feel vindicated, but it lifts the confidence.”

Anyone whose memories of Coombes are based around the side-burned cheeky chap from Supergrass’s Alright video is in for a pleasant surprise. Matador is a mature, thought-provoking work, albeit one which doesn’t substitute naval-gazing for a decent tune.

“There was definitely a pressure on Supergrass to provide accessible three-minute singles,” he says. “It is still very much part of my make-up to write like that – focused, catchy songs.

“What really excites me about music is the drive for new ideas. Approaching things in a different way was very important to me on these two records, and I think it has probably come into sharp focus on this album.”

The biggest change on Matador comes from its opening track Buffalo.

While Supergrass and Coombes in particular were closely associated with guitar-driven pop, Matador sees Coombes investigate electronic sounds and experiment with samples and loops.

“I spent a long time in a band where guitar was my thing,” says Coombes. “It’s only natural to want to create a bit of distance from what I had done before. I wanted to stop any repetition in terms of an approach or how I had written a song before. It was really important to take a step away and create music differently, starting from a simple loop, or some kind of noise which triggers an idea.”

As with Here Come The Bombs Coombes played most of the instruments on the record, constructing the album in his home studio through early 2013.

And he touches on deeply personal subject matter, as with the acoustic guitar-driven The Girl Who Fell To Earth about his 11-year-old autistic daughter.

“You write about what you know,” he says. “I find my daughter an inspiring subject. The last nine or 10 years have been a journey for us as a family entering into her world and engaging with what she sees.

“In the most beautiful way I see her as my alien who has landed on the planet. My job is to guide her and settle her into life on Earth – it’s quite a cool thing to write about.

“All day, every day nothing comes particularly naturally to her – she has to work at human behaviour. I have nothing but admiration and love for her and how she deals with it.”

He has now been working on translating the album into a live format.

“It’s a great feeling having two albums to draw from,” he says. “Before I was stumbling around for extra songs. Now we can have a fuller set and give it some dynamics – take the audience on a bit of a journey.”

As for settling into life as a solo artist, after Supergrass broke up during sessions for a projected drone-rock record, he says he is enjoying the freedom.

“When you have 17 interviews to do you miss having a band where you can pass on half,” he says. “You have to shoulder a bad review or a bad show, but it’s all part of the challenge.

“I can write what I want and not be afraid to be too honest. If I’m in the studio I can see an idea through without trying to get it across to another band member and losing it in discussions or arguments.

“There’s no-one there to get bored, you can get through the difficult moments in the studio when things aren’t working to get something brilliant.”

Gaz Coombes
The Old Market, Upper Market Street, Hove, Thursday, February 5
Essential info
Doors 7.30pm, SOLD OUT. Call 01273 201801 for more information.