NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Decades into one of the most consistent careers in contemporary country music, and you'd think has this whole album thing worked out. But his 11th studio album, 鈥淗igh," out Friday, was no walk in the park.
It's been four years since 2020's 鈥淭he Speed of Now Part 1,鈥� and in that time, Urban and scrapped it.
"It鈥檚 the only time I鈥檝e ever gone into the studio with a very clear sort of intent to make a particular kind of record, that had focus. I started to wonder if my musical adventurousness on records needed a little more discipline," he laughs. 鈥淭he end result was this thing that was just a bit linear. It was just a lot of the same kind of thing, and it was missing the spirit of the curiosity of the edges and places that I鈥檓 interested in exploring and going to.鈥�
So, instead, Urban returned to what he knows best 鈥� fluidity in the studio, unbeholden to genre limitations, 鈥� channeling one of his favorite albums, the New Radicals' 1998 alt-rock classic 鈥淢aybe You鈥檝e Been Brainwashed Too," with its oscillating qualities. One song has impeccable structure and recording, the next is 鈥渟tream of consciousness, random, I don't even know what it is,鈥� he says. 鈥淭he album had this beautiful flowing energy of organized and chaos... The spirit of most of my albums has contained some element of that.鈥�
As does 鈥淗igh鈥� 鈥� from the sexy, playful duet 鈥淕o Home W U,鈥� and the road trip romance of 鈥淗eart Like a Hometown鈥� and the honky-tonk headrush 鈥淟aughin' All the Way to the Drank鈥� to the not-so-indirect ballad 鈥淟ove Is Hard," and the slow-burn 鈥淒odge in a Silverado.鈥�
Tempo changes punctuate the album, mirroring its emotional range. The first gut punch arrives early: the jovial "Straight Line" hits like a rowdy night, 鈥淢essed Up As Me鈥� provides the sobering light of day.
For Urban, those sensibilities make up life. 鈥淚鈥檝e got a dutiful, responsible, reliable side. And I鈥檝e got this animalistic, wild, reckless, irresponsible, 鈥榳hat does this button do?,鈥欌�� he says. 鈥淭he spirit of those two things is very much a part of who I am, and this album hopefully captures that.鈥�
To express that specific human experience, the sequencing of 鈥淗igh鈥� was crucial. It had to end with 鈥淏reak the Chain,鈥� a soulful rumination on dysfunctional family dynamics.
鈥淚t's a lot to do with my dad and being born into a family with and the challenges that come with that,鈥� he says of the song. 鈥淢y job is to now maybe break that chain and do something different. But I never mentioned alcohol in the song once because I didn鈥檛 want the song to be about that. It鈥檚 really about behavioral patterns that we all learn very quickly to survive in whatever environment that we鈥檙e in.鈥� Urban has been sober for nearly two decades.
He wrote the song with Marc Scibilia the first day they met. Urban walked into Scibilia's Nashville studio, barely haven spoken to one another, and started writing. It began with the guitar, the overdubs, the melody, a second verse, and then a particularly devastating lyrical line flows out of Urban: 鈥淣ever sure/What made him so mad at the world/Mad at me/I was just a kid/I won鈥檛 do the same.鈥�
鈥淚 just burst out crying on this guy鈥檚 couch, just like in a fetal position, like I鈥檓 in therapy,鈥� Urban recalls. 鈥淗e looks over and he just goes, 鈥楬mm, must be true.鈥� And then went back to work. And it was the perfect reaction because it wasn鈥檛 judgmental. It was of no opinion. And he just let me stay in it and finish out the song. And then that was it.鈥�
Then he suggests, like all of the songs on this record, from the clear-as-day goodtime records and the others that might center on more complicated emotions, it's 鈥渁 hopeful song.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 offering hope and a way through a situation that a lot of people might find themselves in,鈥� he says, because it assures they have the power to get out.
Maria Sherman, The Associated Press
