Higher Truth in Bloomington, MN

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
. Hiring producer
Brendan O'Brien
, a fellow veteran of the grunge wars of the '90s, suggests
is backpedaling from the chilly electro surfaces of his last solo album, but
isn't quite a retreat.
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 --
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
never seems as self-consciously confessional as
, this mellow simplicity is an attribute: a relaxed
creates a comforting mood piece that's enveloping in its warmth. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine