- 2020-11-17
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MUSIC
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Donate to support families affected by the crisis in Ukraine ➔ Ashton Irwin Releases Debut Solo Album “Superbloom” & Cover of Nirvana's “Heart-Shaped Box”
5 Seconds of Summer's drummer Ashton Irwin released his debut solo album “Superbloom” on October 23, 2020.
The album comprises of 10-track, including preceding singles “Skinny Skinny”, ”Have U Found What Ur Looking For?”, and “SCAR”.
Back in March, 5 Seconds of Summer released their fourth studio album “Calm” and planed to embark the tour in support of the album. But the the international promotion for the album halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So Ashton Irwin decided to create the solo album he has been wanting to make since he was ten years old.
Ashton Irwin said, “Saw it as the perfect chance for me to make some music on my own, test my songwriting ability and start a little venture on the side for me to live in when 5SOS isn't busy.”
He worked with his mate and producer Matt Pauling for the album. He said of the album, “'Superbloom' was written about things that have happened to me, that I know have happened to a lot of others. It's all about self-acceptance. I grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney and a lot of this is just me coming to terms with who I actually am. With this record, instead of playing characters and writing about things that I think people want to hear, I'm writing what I need to hear.”
He added, “Ambitions like releasing a record have swirled around my brain since I was 10 years old listening to Bullet In A Bible by @greenday & playing covers of Holiday. My introduction to music was Paul McCartney's “live and let die” and my stories and walk of life dance along to the soundtrack of a million other songwriters I admire. If you got time, take time, to listen to my record Superbloom, and let it fill you with light.”- 6xDaDfP8x0I
- 6xDaDfP8x0I
Following the album, he released a cover of “Heart-Shaped Box” on November 13th.
The original version of the track was released by American rock band Nirvana from their third and final studio album “In Utero” in 1993. The single reached No. 5 on the UK Singles chart and No. 1 on US Alternative Songs chart.
Ashton Irwin said, “Heart-Shaped Box is lined with one of the most beautiful melodies wrapped in barbed wire. Kurt Cobain's mastery is being respected in my cover in many ways. One of them being I by no means tried to sing it like him, I gave it my own take.”-
Ashton Irwin explained track by track for the album below.
“SCAR”
“This song has an important message behind it I'd like to share before you listen. Please hold on. Please don't quit, please don't let go, please remember you're loved. Please don't commit suicide.”
“Have U Found What Ur Looking For?”
“This song is about overcoming mental resistance, and facing every fear you've ever had. This is “Have u found what ur looking for?”.
“Skinny Skinny”
“We must fight against a common darkness that shadows our ability to live truthfully, to live without self doubt, and without self destruction and love ourselves for what we are.
When writing “Skinny Skinny” I first thought of myself, and many other young peoples struggles with body image and particularly body dysmorphia. It's something I've never confronted in a creative form and I am feeling strong in saying “Skinny Skinny” goes directly to that painful place in my mind.”
“Greyhound”
“'Greyhound' is a one take in my living room and I'm singing my arse off here, and I'm conjuring kind of all the songs that that song is about. That song is about my family's frustration and endless kind of birth/work/death cycle. But it's also capturing a relationship that my mother had with a greyhound trainer, and if the greyhound didn't come first, he would be shot dead, and that visual was so haunting to me as a kid.”
“Sunshine”
“I wrote a song about media consumption, self love, and a touch of how it's felt to be in quarantine.”
“The Sweetness”
“In this vid I'm working out the chorus guitar line for “the sweetness” demo back in April.
'When the sweetness seeps into your bloodstream' was initially about the gradual changes SSRI's make to your mind over time. This song is weird to me because it isn't a 'good' or 'bad' concept, it's really open ended. The second part of the lyric 'when the darkness creeps into your basement' is about when you catch that same old depression you used to feel randomly.” - source : NME
