If you were to describe AWOLNATION's new, guest-filled covers album, it'd be hard to come up with a better word than "fun."
The compilation, titled My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me, finds the "Sail" outfit taking on songs including Scorpions' "Wind of Change" with Incubus' Brandon Boyd and Portgual. the Man and Midnight Oil's "Beds Are Burning" with Rise Against, to ABBA's "Take a Chance on Me" with Jewel and Madonna's "Material Girl" with Hanson's Taylor Hanson.
For AWOL frontman Aaron Bruno, trying to create something as fun as possible amid the doldrums of the early COVID-19 pandemic seemed like the best option he had.
"Music is there to help people, it's supposed to be fun," Bruno tells ABC Audio. "When it can be lighthearted, that's a great thing. That was generally the attitude I took to making this whole project."
Working on My Echo, Bruno shares, was a nice alternative to "looking at negative news all the time and living in a constant state of panic."
"I was able to kind of lean on the connectivity with these different artists that joined me," he says. "It was very therapeutic for me."
Bruno adds that he's "happy and grateful" for all the guests who "agreed to do this crazy thing" with him. Collaborating with so many different people on a single record was also a unique experience for Bruno, who's the main driving force behind AWOLNATION.
"It's like I'm in a band all of the sudden again," he says. "I haven't done that in awhile. So that feels good, as well."
My Echo, My Shadow, My Covers and Me is out today. AWOLNATION will launch a U.S. tour in October.