Album review: Michael Clifford – SIDEQUEST

On the surface, it looks like Michael Clifford’s idea of a sidequest is to devise a way of, musically speaking, moving backwards and forwards at the same time. The quirky, bright aesthetic of his solo project brings back memories of the colourful doodle-filled artworks of 5 Seconds Of Summer’s 2014 debut, when they were teenagers fighting for pop-punk credibility. In signing to Hopeless and bringing Waterparks on board for the thumping, maximalist single give me a break!, he’s touching base with the alt. world all over again, embracing it more than his three bandmates’ respective solo projects.

Still, he’s not regressing. Save for the gawky self-reckoning on the gleaming alt.pop of cool – in which he references being burned by pyro onstage in 2015, and 5SOS’ breakout hit She Looks So Perfect – Michael’s retracing his steps as a fully-formed adult still burdened with long-standing insecurity.

At times, it’s rawer than it looks. enough’s uneasy jitter builds to a heavier, atmospheric climax pivoting around the brutally candid declaration ‘Am I ever gonna be enough?’ It’s perhaps more effective than when he becomes over-earnest, such as on Porter Robinson collaboration kill me for always, where he pitches for high-drama, anticipatory riffing and sugar-glazed metaphors. ‘The castle I built just to fall / I thought I could hold up the wall… the castle is me,’ he sings, the pay-off coming off as more obvious than intended.

Occasionally, the emotion is blunted by overproduction – thirsty, for example, ends up becoming a blur as it tries to soar. By contrast, nosebleed fares better, its slow, treacly guitar possessing a more organic feel.

Nonetheless, it’s more than a decent listen and for the right fan, it’s a slice of fun that’ll see them through to summer’s end.

Verdict: 3/5

For fans of: Waterparks, NOAHFINNCE, 5 Seconds Of Summer

SIDEQUEST is released on July 25 via Hopeless