Why is it anticipated?

Chris Cornell helped pioneer Seattle grunge during his nearly 10 year career with Soundgarden. Now he wants to try grace. Will Soundgarden fans appreciate his new direction? Does Cornell care?

What’s it gonna sound like?

Cornell describes his elegant solo debut as a reaction against Soundgarden’s trademark sound. His challenge working these past several months with friends Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider (both of Eleven) in their California home studio, has been to establish a distinct direction without limiting himself stylistically. The result, he says, is a renewed focus on the singer and the song.

"It’s not anything like Soundgarden, I can say that," Cornell says. "Originally, I thought it was going to go in a more acoustic- ethereal direction. It’s swayed from that a little bit. The easiest way to sum it up is it’s very singer- songwriter- oriented. It’s definitely a singer’s record. I’m really into putting my voice out there naked and being heard, which is probably a reaction to being in a band for so long."

Befitting his more intimate approach, Cornell’s latest lyrics are his most personal ever. The experience of laying himself bare has been simultaneously frightening and freeing. "Sometimes I write down a line and think, ‘God, do I want people to hear that?’ Then I know that I should keep it. If I write something down that just seems cool, that’s when I work harder."

Despite the anxiety he’s feeling over revealing so much lyrically, Cornell says he’s long past worrying about how his songs will be received. He knows that Soundgarden fans might not expect a smart, structured singer- songwriter album, but he thinks there’s a yearning for music that’s real and true, something he doesn’t hear anywhere on the radio.

"I’m sure there will be moments in the future when all I want to do is be aggressive and make a lot of noise. This isn’t the time for that," he says. "Music is so wide open. It blows me away how bands meander around the same territory for years. For me, it’s such a huge, infinite landscape of things you can do."

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