Review | Calum Hood – ORDER chaos ORDER

Label: EMI Records

Alisa Fridman

Calum Hood steps out from behind the bass with his solo debut album, ‘ORDER chaos ORDER’, a vulnerable and unfiltered exploration of identity, grief and self-discovery. Though the wait for 5 Seconds of Summer fans to hear Hood’s solo music was long, it quickly became clear from the early album teasers that it was worth every second.

From the very first breath of ‘Don’t Forget You Love Me’, Hood establishes that this is not just a vanity project, but a confessional. The debut single and album opener, which he calls the “emotional cornerstone” of the album, is haunting in its honesty. With a hypnotic blend of post-punk melancholy and shimmering indie pop, the track sets the tone for the rest of the record, igniting excitement among fans both old and new.

Produced primarily by Jackson Phillips (aka Day Wave), with contributions from Elijah Noll (5 Seconds of Summer, Jonas Brothers), David Burris (Lauren Spencer Smith, ITZY) and TMS, the album is grounded in a sonic palette influenced by Phoenix, Interpol, and The Radio Dept. The result is a sound that is moody yet expansive, nostalgic yet intimate. ‘Call Me When You Know Better’ continues this confessional tone with lyrical depth and cinematic production. “It’s a love letter in the form of an apology,” Hood says, and the song’s pulsing synths mirror the lyrical spiral of guilt, regret and self-awareness.

Elsewhere, ‘Sweetdreams’ examines addiction through a dreamlike lens, while ‘I Wanted To Stay’ processes grief through a surreal call-and-response structure. “It became an ode to the conversations you still have after someone has passed,” Hood explains. His vocal range, from gritty lows to airy falsettos, carries these songs with aching sincerity. 

Midway through, ‘Sunsetter’ offers a sonic and emotional shift and blends Britpop warmth with shoegaze textures, a reminder to “be gentle with yourself and cherish the amazing times that you spend with people”. There is a maturity in the track sequencing too: placing ‘Sunsetter’ mid-album (while initially considered for the closing track) feels like a perfect emotional and sonic intermission, while ‘Three of Swords’ rounds off the record with stark beauty, resolving the album’s tension in the final moment of self-acceptance. This final track, inspired by tarot and childhood memories, is a poetic closing statement: “It talks about my childhood… and how over-nostalgia can be a little toxic.”

‘All My Affection’ serves as one of the album’s most intimate moments. Originally written during lockdown, the song was inspired by his late dog and the idea of unconditional love. With triple-layered vocals à la Sufjan Stevens or Elliott Smith, Hood builds a soft, surreal atmosphere with intimate lyrics: “It feels like someone else wrote that song. It came from a deep place of hurt but also surrender.”

The album’s sonic world – a cocktail of shoegaze, dream pop, and 2000s indie – is richly layered without ever overshadowing each song’s individual story. On ‘Streetwise’, Hood trades autobiography for storytelling, drawing inspiration from a 1980s documentary about street kids in Seattle. Capturing a fragment of youthful innocence against a backdrop of survival, “They had a knowing of themselves so deeply,” he says. “It really moved me.” The track’s visuals of chasing moonlight, city lights and emotional dissonance linger long after it ends.

With all but one track exceeding three and half minutes, Hood resists the industry’s short-form trend in favour of patient, immersive storytelling. Each song unfolds in its own time, offering space for growth, reflection and catharsis.

Above all, ‘ORDER chaos ORDER’ is a deeply personal project, one that sees Calum Hood embracing not just a new sound, but a more expansive sense of self. Vulnerable, musically adventurous and emotionally sincere, this album is a cohesive and bold introduction to Hood’s identity as a solo artist.