Earlier this year, former Soundgarden singer Chris Cornell prepared to record his just-released solo debut, Euphoria Morning, knowing one thing for sure: He didn't want to rehash past glories.

"It was just a natural process," Cornell said of the Los Angeles sessions for the experimental, psychedelic-soul album.

"Obviously, I had no interest in revisiting the band, for many reasons," Cornell, 35, said, adding that, as Soundgarden's songwriter, he had to write in a style that would satisfy everyone in the group.

"My interests were already starting to go into different directions," he recalled. "And out of respect to the band, I couldn't re-create that, so why would I ever want to try?" (RealAudio excerpt of interview)

Cornell said fans of the defunct, multiplatinum Seattle grunge band might be able to find hints of Soundgarden's dark bluster in some of his new songs, such as the bluesy "Mission" (RealAudio excerpt) and the epic rock tune "Disappearing One." But they also will find Cornell reaching out in new directions after a nearly two-year absence from the marketplace. Euphoria Morning seems to draw inspiration from the experimental rock of late-period Beatles albums, the dreamy, surging psychedelia of Pink Floyd and the emotionally resonant, baroque pop of the late Jeff Buckley. The latter is even eulogized on the bluesy soul tune "Wave Goodbye."

Cornell said his close collaboration with Alain Johannes and Natasha Shneider of the Los Angeles band Eleven helped inspire him to introduce such elements as drum loops and jazzy crooning.

"All three of us are quite dark bastards when it comes to art, [but] not in real life, though," Moscow-born Shneider said. She said the introspective, brooding nature of some of the album's cuts, such as "Pillow of Your Bones" (RealAudio excerpt) — which features the only lyrics co-written by the trio — doesn't accurately reflect Cornell's day-to-day personality. "Where it comes from? It comes from perceiving the world a certain way," Shneider said. "There is an external way people see you ... say, walking down the street — and what you really feel and think when you are with yourself. And those moments are when you write.

"Those moments are not happy and cheery, but there is always a ray of light shining through everything," she continued. "It's bittersweet, something that life is, I suppose." (RealAudio excerpt of interview)

Freed from the need to create music that all the members of Soundgarden could agree on, Cornell said Euphoria Morning was a chance for him to push his sound in any direction he desired.

Johannes — speaking from the home he and Shneider share — said the situation resulted in Cornell acting on his inspirations, literally, at every turn during the recording process.

"When he was recording the vocal for 'When I'm Down,' he had it nailed," Johannes said of a blues-rock song on the album. "

Follow My Way (Links)| Cat on the Road (Tour Dates)| Feathered Trails- A Chris Cornell Tour Chronology| The Truth Can Burn (Articles)|Still Screaming Life