“I feel very fortunate to be in this situation where I can actually always be concentrating on what I love the most,” said singer/songwriter Chris Cornell of the state of his career in a recent phone interview with The Independent. “Getting up in the morning and [writing songs], that’s exciting. It’s as exciting as it always was.” Cornell achieved mega success in the 1990s as frontman for grunge rock originators Soundgarden and then later with the Grammy nominated supergroup Audioslave. He has simultaneously carried on a notable solo career, recording several original songs for film and four records — from 1999’s Euphoria Morning to his latest, Higher Truth, which becomes available September 18. Higher Truth sees Cornell take a different sonic direction than his last studio album, Scream, which was produced by Timbaland, explaining that on this record there was “nothing labored over.” It’s closer to a demo, he added — one that is also high in quality and musically dynamic.
Thoughtful and forthcoming, Cornell spoke of his vision for this project, working with producer Brendan O’Brien, and Johnny Cash.
I’ve been listening to “Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart” from your new album, and it has a sort of back-porch feel yet is really well done. Is that what you were you going for? Well, it jumps around. There isn’t a lot more of those [on the record], but you’ll have to make up your mind. I mean, these [songs] delve into a lot of feelings, but ultimately, yeah, I think that it can represent the overall on some level, sure.