5 Seconds of Summer’s bassist, Calum Hood, is the last member to step into the role of frontman with his first record, ORDER chaos ORDER. Where the band ran on the adrenaline of youth, Hood is thoughtful and restrained, yet nothing feels hesitant. There is an assured sense of intention, and every song feels lived-in, like a conversation he’s had in his head a million times, or a route he’s taken so often he could go down it with his eyes closed.
Each member of 5SOS has carved their own sound in their personal work. Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Luke Hemmings floated down a dreamy, indie/alt-pop path; drummer Ashton Irwin chased the pep of the 80’s; and lead guitarist Michael Clifford is actively leaning into pop-rock. Hood follows their lead and transforms from teenage dreamer to seasoned storyteller. The resulting ten tracks blend indie-pop, synth, and new wave, and represent a cyclical journey that coincides with the opposing energies Hood explores.
Navigating heartbreak, identity, and desire, he’s grown to embrace each emotion for what they are rather than resist them. None are good or bad, per se, but they’re necessary. The lead single, “Don’t Forget You Love Me”, acts as the cornerstone of the whole project. Listeners are immediately confronted with his raw honesty – “I’m cryin’ out my eyes / And I’m sittin’ there, wonderin’ / If I wanna be alive” – which will never relent. Instead of purging emotions through songwriting, Calum cultivated his experiences, with great care, into something meaningfully tangible.
“Call Me When You Know Better”, with its computer game noises and jittery rhythms, aces the classic trope of using a lighthearted sound to mask darker lyrics. Though he continues to mourn where a relationship went wrong, there is a tiny spark of acceptance and hope when he says, “‘Cause you won’t always be enough / It doesn’t mean your life is over”, in the bridge. The glimmering sentiments warm up sonically in “Sweetdreams” despite the dip into indifference as he expresses that not only is there no pain, but he can’t feel at all. “I love my baby, but I’m fadin’ away” he confesses in “I Wanted To Stay”. This fog reaches a peak in “Sunsetter”, where the haze of uncertainty leads to nostalgia.
Wonder and longing meet at a crossroads, and the heat of a lazy, melancholic summer day gives way to a moment of clarity in “All My Affection”, which strips down to acoustics. Sensations and excess vanish and regardless of the hopelessness and resignation he previously laid bare, there’s a quiet devotion that lingers and builds as the song progresses.
Guided by distant voices, it’s as if Hood is waking up from a dream at the start of “Endless Ways”. Wanting to bask in the beauty of the present, the solution seems to be staying connected to the people around him because “sometimes it takes somebody else / to get to know yourself”. By contrast, his vocals for much of “Streetwise” are slightly muffled, painting vague portraits of memories, and nodding to the temptation to escape in the past. From “You know that one day / This will all be over”, to “And it’s too late to be starting over”, time is an exhaustive, fleeting scheme to Calum. “Dark Circles” echoes the idea that there’s no time and yet more of it still to be spent by addressing the fear of growing up and getting left behind.
“Three Of Swords” covers a broad span from his childhood to the house he’s currently living in, acting as a well-rounded, mature conclusion to this album, encapsulating every facet of who he was and is. The tarot card traditionally symbolizes loss, grief, and emotional pain, but it’s also associated with a potential for growth and healing. This shimmering manifestation of optimism through affliction is the light that carries Hood from then, to now, and into the future. The curtain closes, but there’s an opening for wherever life takes him next.
Calum has done the labor of finding enough perspective to let go of his burdens of regret and contradicting thoughts. Past the harsh wind and torrential rain of emotional pain, he’s made a home of a storm and stands tall in its eye. ORDER chaos ORDER is a rebirth as much as it is a return to form. A testament to the restoration found on the other side of introspection, this debut showcases a vulnerability he wasn’t able to share before that is both welcome and relatable.
