Thing is, I never really figured out where I stand when it comes to John Frusciante. You know, people usually don’t enjoy Red Hot Chili Peppers after a certain age without half-smilingly knowing that it basically sucks. Same thing with the drug addiction-recovery story, you just don’t value it too much after you’ve been through some pop music stuff. Now, there are things you kinda always have to admire: like around 8-9 maybe 10 full-lenght solo albums in addition to the RHCP career. My purpose for writing this is the latest album, The Empyrean. I wouldn’t care for 8-9 maybe 10 (sorry, didn’t bother to count it properly) albums after 15+ years of making music (didn’t bother again) if it didn’t move something in me. The Empyrean is an awesome record which is even more awesome considering the numbers above. All good except for the horrible 9-minute first song and the weird experimental parts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a fan of experimenting when someone has a talent for it. However, it seems to me that Frusciante just wants to escape from the meaningfulcore ’sad singer-songwriter’ label when he’s the best when he does it. I had the same feeling with Shadows Collide with People and Curtains. He says the new album is a psychedelic experience and I beg to differ: it’s more like a heart-to-heart, you know. At it’s best moments it reminds me of the Two Gallants’ melancholic songs. (I guess this sentece just crossed a lot of accepted ideas about the hierarchy of pop musical influences, history, etc.) Point is: in my very and utterly humbly opinion, this album is great because of the moments when Frusciante doesn’t struggle to demolish traditional song structure but when he embraces it and twists it to suit his honest singing-songwriting soul. Don’t forget to buy the album here!

John Frusciante - Song To The Siren [zshare] // [ysi]