Brighten

On January 24, 2020, during an interview for People TV on the red carpet of the MusiCares Person of the Year ceremony, Cantrell announced that he was working on a solo album. He started recording at Dave's Room Recording Studio in North Hollywood, Los Angeles on March 10, 2020. On March 4, 2021, Cantrell announced via his Instagram page that he had completed the album, captioning the photo: "Finished my record tonight one year to the day from when we started recording it. What a crazy journey... always is. Look forward to setting it free upon your ear holes sometime soon." Producer Tyler Bates previously worked with Cantrell on the song "A Job to Do", featured on the soundtrack to the 2017 film John Wick: Chapter 2, and on the song "Setting Sun", written for the soundtrack of DC Comics' graphic novel Dark Nights: Metal. Bates helped put a band together for Cantrell's solo concerts at the Pico Union Project in Los Angeles on December 6 and 7, 2019, and some of those musicians are also featured on Brighten, such as Greg Puciato, Gil Sharone, Jordan Lewis and Michael Rozon. Drummer Gil Sharone had worked with Cantrell on "A Job to Do" and "Setting Sun". Cantrell originally intended to release Brighten in September 2020, but had to postpone it due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to the COVID-19 restrictions and lockdown, Laboriel Jr. couldn't travel to Los Angeles to record the tracks, so recorded his drum tracks in New York where he was locked down. Cantrell originally wanted Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers's keyboardist Benmont Tench to play keyboards on "Siren Song". Tench was interested in playing in the song, but something happened and he couldn't do it, so Vincent Jones ended up replacing him. On June 29, 2021, after low quality photos were leaked from a music video shoot, it was reported that Guns N' Roses' bassist Duff McKagan would be featured on Cantrell's new solo album. Cantrell confirmed McKagan's collaboration the next day by posting higher quality behind-the-scenes photos from the music video shoot that also showed Gil Sharone on drums and Greg Puciato on guitar and vocals on the set. == Music and lyrics ==

The album features eight original songs and closes with a cover of Elton John's "Goodbye", the last track on John's 1971 album, Madman Across the Water, which is one of Cantrell's favorite Elton John albums. Brighten incorporates elements from Cantrell's musical influences from the 1960s to the 1990s. Cantrell described Prism of Doubt as "Steve Miller mixed with a little Frank Black/Pixies". The track "Dismembered" has been compared to the Rolling Stones' 1972 album Exile on Main St. and Cantrell has acknowledged that the record showcased "a little Stones, a little Creedence [Creedence Clearwater Revival]". ==Promotion and touring==

On July 28, 2021, Cantrell posted a teaser trailer in his social media announcing that a new song and video titled "Atone" would be released on July 29. The song and music video premiered exclusively on the Rolling Stone website. The second single, "Brighten", was released via streaming and digital download on September 10, 2021. The music video for the single premiered exclusively on the Consequence of Sound website. The third single, "Siren Song", was released via streaming and digital download on October 21, 2021. An animated music video for the single was released on March 16, 2022. ==Release==

Brighten was released via streaming and digital download on October 29, 2021. and later changed again to November 5, 2021. == Critical reception ==

Metacritic gives the album a score of 85/100. Kerrang!'s Sam Law rated the album 4/5: "Brightens vivid, contemporary self-portrait of one of the most distinctive voices in hard rock is complete. A long-overdue show of individual brilliance." Wall of Sounds Duane James scored the release 10/10 and said, "Brighten is an exceptionally crafted album, done so by one of the finest songwriters and musicians to grace any genre over the last 30+ years. A true icon, he's enlisted the finest talent to accompany him and the outcome is sublime." Accolades ==Track listing==

Musicians • Jerry Cantrell – lead vocals, lead guitar, bass, keyboards • Greg Puciato – background vocals • Duff McKagan – bass guitar • Gil Sharone – drums • Abe Laboriel Jr. – drums • Tyler Bates – strings, percussion, guitar • Vincent Jones – piano, keyboards, strings • Jordan Lewis – piano • Michael Rozon – pedal steel • Lola Bates – background vocals Production • Jerry Cantrell – producer • Tyler Bates – producer • Joe Barresi – mixer • Paul Figueroa – engineer ==Charts==