Higher Truth

by Chris Cornell

Overview

Chris Cornell flew toward the sun with 2009's Scream but he got burned. The Timbaland-produced album marked a sudden shift toward electronic pop, a move that did not sit well with either critics or Cornell's audience, but he didn't react swiftly to the derision. He moved slowly, revisiting his catalog on 2011's Songbook and then reuniting with Soundgarden before releasing Higher Truth some six years after Scream. Hiring producer Brendan O'Brien, a fellow veteran of the grunge wars of the '90s, suggests Cornell is backpedaling from the chilly electro surfaces of his last solo album, but Higher Truth isn't quite a retreat. Cornell possess an easy, quiet confidence throughout this handsome, burnished record, an album that occasionally recalls the breaking twilight of Euphoria Mourning but feels warmer and looser than that 1999 solo debut. Despite the ornate accouterments of the opener "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" -- a pop single so stately it's almost Baroque -- Higher Truth isn't especially dramatic. O'Brien favors subtle shading over bombast, so even when the tracks are built up with pianos, strings, harmonies, and fuzz guitars, it feels intimate, almost acoustic. This illusion persists because there are a fair share of spare, delicate solo numbers here, interwoven among those bolder but still quiet pop tunes. While Higher Truth never seems as self-consciously confessional as Euphoria Mourning, this mellow simplicity is an attribute: a relaxed Cornell creates a comforting mood piece that's enveloping in its warmth. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Product Details

Release Date:	11/06/2015
Label:	Polydor / Universal
UPC:	0602547524065
Rank:	20850

Tracks

Disc 1

1. Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart
2. Dead Wishes
3. Worried Moon
4. Before We Disappear
5. Through the Window
6. Josephine
7. Murderer of Blue Skies
8. Higher Truth

Disc 2

9. Let Your Eyes Wander
10. Only These Words
11. Circling
12. Our Time in the Universe
13. Bend in the Road
14. Wrong Side
15. Misery Chain
16. Our Time in the Universe [Remix]

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Chris Cornell   Primary Artist,Bass,Guitar,Vocals,Mandolin,Percussion
Patrick Warren   Piano
Matt Chamberlain   Drums
Brendan O'Brien   Bass,Drums,Guitar,Keyboards,Hurdygurdy,Percussion
Ann Marie Simpson   Strings

Technical Credits

Billy Bowers   Engineer,Mastering
Brendan O'Brien   Mixing,Producer
Tom Syrowski   Engineer
Chris Cornell   Composer
Jeff Fura   A&R
Monique McGuffin   Production Manager
Liuba Shapiro   Product Manager
Jeff Lipsky   Photography
Josh Graham   Art Direction
Kyle Stevens   Engineer
Suspended in Light   Art Direction