Over a decade ago, the Australian pop-punk boy band 5 Seconds of Summer emerged as charming genre-revivalists. Their 2014 career-making single “She Looks So Perfect” was all palm-muted power chords and gang vocals, a familiar sound for fans of the Warped Tour scene. In the years since, the quartet evolved into a full-on arena pop-rock act, taking turns at releasing solo material. Next up is lead guitarist Michael Clifford, the edgiest of the bunch, with a spirited solo debut album that feels truer to the band’s earliest material than their most recent.
But he doesn’t just rehash the past. Rather, the colorful-haired musician adds his own twist on “SIDEQUEST.”
Ten energetic, introspective tracks form a tight album that explores self-doubt, fame and romance. The songs are pop-punk in spirit but deviate from the formula with a stadium-sized production: experimental electronics, big synths and versatile vocals.
And it is an emotional journey. The lovesick opener “Kill Me for Always,” featuring Porter Robinson, sets the stage, with its scintillating mix of electronica and bass.
The sound of “Cool,” released as a single, acts as the strongest evidence of Clifford’s former boy band roots. It’s self-deprecating and self-aware. “Confidence doesn’t come so easily / When you’re the guy who caught fire with the colored hair / From the band with the song about underwear,” Clifford sings, referencing the chorus of “She Looks So Perfect.”
In an album stuffed with energetic songs juxtaposed with existential lyrics, the best track arrives at a midpoint high in “Enough.” “At 3 a.m. awake again / I can see all of the damage you’ve done,” Clifford sings through an evocative rasp. “With friends like you who needs a loaded gun.”
“Remember When” and “Fashion” maintain the swoony cadence of Clifford’s 5 Seconds of Summer work; “Eclipse” ends the album in a crescendo.
“SIDEQUEST” sets out to prove it’s both a culmination of the last decade of Clifford’s life and a deviation from it, as he steps into his own sound. Thankfully, for fans, it succeeds. The debut album reflects Clifford’s maturation and self-agency, despite the insecurities and doubts that creep in throughout.
“All I’ve done / Is it ever gonna be enough?” Clifford sings, growing hoarser, in “Enough.” Then the question changes: “Am I ever gonna be enough?”
On “SIDEQUEST,” the answer, quite simply, is yes.
