The empyrean

It’s no secret that in terms of churning out music that is truly experimental and heart-felt, John Frusciante’s solo work roundly trumps the music he makes in his day-job as guitarist for the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The Empyrean is the musician’s 11th solo release and (brace yourselves) it’s a concept record. While 99 per cent of concept albums are terrible affairs, this slab of wax actually bucks the trend by being pretty good.
The whole of The Empyrean apparently “tells a single story both musically and lyrically and takes place within one person and there are two characters” (yeah, we’re not quite sure what that means either). Highlights are the sublime ‘God,’ the extremely trippy ‘Before The Beginning’ and the appearance of former Smiths legend Johnny Marr on ‘Enough Of Me.’ As you’d expect, the guitar playing is excellent throughout and it’s an old fashioned psychedelic record that harks back to the kind of bands your dad would have bought in the ’70s.
After listening to The Empyrean it makes you wonder why Frusciante still bothers playing with RHCP at all, as his solo work is way ahead of the formerly funky monks in every way possible. Still, as long as he finds the time to make albums like this, we don’t mind what he does to pay the bills.

Key Track: ‘Song To The Siren’