Finishing Soundgarden 's final album with previously unreleased vocals from Chris Cornell on unreleased recordings made before his death in 2017 has been a mission as important as it has been painful for the remaining members of the band.
In an interview on the State of Love & Trust, guitarist Kim Thayil revealed that the process involves a strong emotional and creative charge.
“In terms of process, the goal is success. It’s difficult because it’s atypical in the way we’re conducting this recording. Obviously, we’re missing a creative member. Fortunately, we have his work, we understand that aspect of his vision. […] It’s like, ‘Oh, we have to go back and fill this in,’ because the track we have is just a demo and I need to re-record that guitar part. So, that’s unusual and very different. And again, the time and money budget is different too,” Kim confessed.
According to Thayil, working with Cornell's recordings again evokes complex feelings. “It’s emotionally difficult and challenging because we tended to write songs we liked, songs that gave us pleasure, songs that moved us. So, if it didn’t touch us, we probably wouldn’t persist. But now it’s touching us emotionally, intellectually, and psychologically.”
He continued: “We are constantly re-exploring this within this context. And that’s different. It’s a journey. The fact that we love it, that we enjoy it, that we like the goal, that we like where we want to go, where we want this project to go, makes everything enjoyable and a work done with love. The process is different and sometimes difficult. But the goal and the final result of the project are the best we could have.”
The songs that make up the project were born during sessions held between 2015 and 2017, before Cornell's death. Many of them existed only as demos or preliminary recordings. Now, Kim Thayil, drummer Matt Cameron , and bassist Ben Shepherd are working alongside producer Terry Date to complete the material, their first new release since King Animal.
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