Luke Hemmings is the lead singer of 5 Seconds of Summer. This debut solo album marks a distinct journey for Luke. Written and recorded after an enforced period of “staying home” in 2020, When Facing The Things We Turn Away From sees Luke channel all his creative energy and passion for song-writing into a solo record for the first time.
“I’ve loved songwriting for my whole life,” he exclaims. “I’m in a constant pursuit of bettering myself in that department. My whole world revolves around music. By writing these lyrics, I learned about myself. A lot of the songs are about now, but some of them are written from the perspective of a 17-year-old kid in the thick of the industry. Those perspectives clash on the album. It was a challenge to create on my own. It naturally turned into a separate entity with the vibe, but it also coexists with 5 Seconds Of Summer as another part of me.”
Luke has worked with to Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter Sammy Witte (King Princess, Maggie Rogers, Harry Styles) on this project, and the album gives a nod to influences as diverse as War On Drugs, Bon Iver, M83, Pink Floyd, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young.