mxdwn PREMIERE: Josh Klinghoffer’s Pluralone Channels Influence from John Cale on New Song “Shade”

Earlier this month Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Josh Klinghoffer announced new solo project under the name Pluralone (think “plural-one”). The new album is out on November 22 via ORG Music, is titled To Be One With You and features guest appearances from drummer Jack Irons, former Jane’s Addiction bassist Eric Avery, his RHCP bandmate Flea and his bandmates in the experimental rock band Dot Hacker, Eric Gardner and Clint Walsh. Today, we’re premiering the newest single from the album, a track called “Shade.”

Unlike his work in alternative rock/funk band Red Hot Chili Peppers or even the more experimental Dot Hacker, the music from Pluralone is a little harder to categorize. On “Shade,” Klinghoffer draws influence from the great John Cale of Velvet Underground fame and translates it into a breezy, swinging piece of alternative pop that treads the line between melancholy and joy.

“I was listening to John Cale when this one came,” said Klingoffer. “There was a caustic nature to the whole thing. I heard drum fills that bucked time and guitar solo of gun shots (opted against that approach). Enlisted the sweet sounds of Clint Walsh to try and hide a bit of the bitterness.”

On a previous release earlier this summer, Pluralone released covers of classic foreign language tracks, the mid-Century Italian song “Io Sono Quel Che Sono” and Brazilian artist Jorge Ben’s Portuguese language “Menina Mulher Da Pele Preta.”

Earlier this year Klinghoffer and Red Hot Chili Peppers livestreamed concert from the Giza pyramids. There, in a clever turn, the guitarist performed cover of Radiohead’s early ’00s classic “Pyramid Song” literally in front of a pyramid. Klinghoffer and RHCP were working on new album but were forced to postpone that due to the Woolsey Fire in the western San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. We recently covered the band’s headlining day three set at Ohana Festival in Orange County, where they performed along an eclectic lineup of artists such as Jenny Lewis and Poolside.

Photo Credit: Boston Lynn Schulz