Lost In Space
John Frusciante’s musical range is impressive. He’s quit as the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ guitar player twice now, but not without helping to release some of their most popular albums, such as Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication and By The Way. He’s collaborated with The Mars Volta and Fugazi member Joe Lally. And he’s always had a love for electronic music, which is a heavy influence on his twelfth studio album, Enclosure, which he literally released into space by loading it onto a Cube Satellite so fans could download an app and track its journey through space. Seriously .
And unlike on his previous solo album The Empyrean, which starts out with a nine-minute guitar solo, there’s little guitar at all on Enclosure. Songs like “Run” contain more fuzzed-out guitar chords and drum machine noises infused with Frusciante’s vocals and fast-then-slow-then-fast-again pace. It’s not exactly a toe-tapping track, but is instead much more experimental.
The beginning of “Fanfare” absolutely sounds like it could’ve been used to depict a montage from an early-’90s romantic comedy, like the scene where shit hits the fan for the movie’s two lovers. “Excuses” sounds like a better version of a song that Zoltan’s band from Dude, Where’s My Car? wrote.
Several moments in “Cinch,” which is sans-vocals and the longest song on the album at six-and-a-half minutes, are welcoming. While Frusciante still uses electronic elements, the drums are clearer and the guitar sounds great—and its what many of his fans love so much about his talent.
At this point in his career, Frusciante is going to record whatever the hell he wants. He’s going to experiment any way he wants, and we’re all probably going to listen to it. He’s an exceptional guitar player, but you’re not going to get much of it on Enclosure. Listen to this one for Frusciante’s love for experimentation and electronica.
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