The 5SOS bassist turns frontman, fusing emotional grit and sonic glow on a record that feels like staring straight into the eye of the storm – and finding yourself there.

After over a decade of commanding global stages with 5 Seconds of Summer, Calum Hood has finally turned the spotlight inward. Today, he releases ORDER chaos ORDER — a haunting, shape-shifting debut solo album that peels back the layers of a musician who’s long been the beating, brooding heart of one of pop-rock’s biggest bands.

Out now via Capitol Records, ORDER chaos ORDER marks a bold leap into the unknown for Hood. The album — 10 tracks of brooding alt-pop and raw emotional exorcism — is not only a sonic rebirth, but a spiritual one. It’s the sound of someone walking through the wreckage of their own mind and choosing, again and again, to rebuild.

Watch the cinematic video for new single “Sunsetter” and you’ll get it: this isn’t a vanity project. It’s a reckoning.

“My lyrics come from a place of purity.”

Those are Hood’s own words, and they hang heavy over the record. ORDER chaos ORDER isn’t about chasing radio hits or chart glory. It’s a slow burn. A late-night confessional whispered through cracked speakers. The album opens with “Don’t Forget You Love Me”, a devastating ballad hailed by Rolling Stone as a “Song You Need To Know.” And you do. Because it lays bare the very thesis of this record — the chaos of love, memory, loss, and self.

There’s no coyness here. From the digital/acoustic blend of “Call Me When You Know Better” — the track that unlocked the album's entire sonic DNA — to the dreamy, vinyl-crackle warmth of “Sweetdreams”, every song feels lived-in, like a conversation that’s been had too many times in your own head. “Sunsetter” glows with heat-haze nostalgia, while “All My Affection” walks like a lazy summer through heartbreak and hope.

Working closely with Jackson Phillips (Day Wave), and with key touches from David Burris and TMS, Hood has sculpted something quietly seismic. This isn’t 5SOS 2.0. It’s introspective, spacious, and emotionally meticulous — more Bon Iver and Cigarettes After Sex than arena-pop. But beneath its sonic restraint lies a coiled tension, a push-pull between calm and chaos that gives the album its name and its bite.

Tracks like “Streetwise” and “Dark Circles” cut deep, painting hazy portraits of emotional exhaustion and fleeting clarity. It all ends on “Three Of Swords”, a title plucked straight from the tarot, closing the curtain on a record that feels less like a statement and more like a soul laid bare.

ORDER chaos ORDER is an album that doesn’t just mark Calum Hood’s debut as a solo artist — it announces him as a serious, thoughtful, and quietly fearless voice in modern music. Where 5SOS were fireworks, this is candlelight. Where the band ran on youthful adrenaline, Hood leans into reflection, vulnerability, and restraint.

And yet, none of it feels hesitant. This is a musician coming full circle — from the teenage dreamer writing songs in his bedroom to the 29-year-old artist learning to sit with the storm, and finding melody in the silence.

Welcome to Calum Hood’s ORDER chaos ORDER. Step in carefully — and stay awhile.

My lyrics come from a place of purity.

Author: Adam Bailey

Adam is a regular contributor for established press release distribution website Release-News.com. He writes on a wide range of topics including music.