Red Hot Chili Peppers ' very own guitar hero John Frusciante has come out of hiatus mode to reveal a thing or two about his upcoming new solo album The Empyrean.
On Frusciante's website, he tells us the record is due out on January 20 via Record Collection and will come boasting guest appearances by RHCP band-mate Flea, as well as another notable guitar hero, Johnny Marr (as if this guy wasn't busy enough already).
Frusciante also goes on to say The Empyrean is "a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically," ideally played as loud as possible in dark living rooms late at night.
"The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority," Frusciante recently told MusicRadar. "Sometimes I'll get extremely technical in my approach, and other times I'll just kind of go with the gods of music.
"I think an artist has to answer to whatever spirits are guiding him. Even if they're in conflict, that's okay."
When asked about any future Red Hot Chili Pepper activity, though, Frusciante remained rather mum, only saying the group had "no plans."
Fortunately, he did have quite a bit more to say about The Empyrean. Here is his latest blog update about where he's coming from on this one:
My describing The Empyrean as a story is accurate from my viewpoint, but misleading, as there are no road signs to lead someone else to perceive a clear story out of it. There was no intention to write what would be seen as clear-cut story, though it is one to me. Being that it takes place in the mind of one person, no laws of time and space, or concrete relationships exist therein. This is to say that if you look into it with your logical brain you will only strain yourself and come up with nothing.
The words were specifically written to document an inner experience of life, the kind that a person has extreme difficulty translating to anyone else. Part of the intention was to write words to connect with other people who have been, or are, overwhelmed by the confusing, inescapable inner world they must live in. Equal attention was given to writing words that would gently direct themselves towards the listeners' intuitive brain, and their sub-conscience, which I believe comprehends and catalogues everything in a much richer and more multi layered way than our conscious mind.
Like a lot of lyrics, it was written to be perceived in as many ways as there are people hearing it. A person to whom the words have no clear, conscious meaning may derive more from it than someone who reads it as I do, and so I recommend hearing or reading it however you will. It would have been simpler to say nothing at all but this only fully occurred to me today, as I have gradually realized that by saying what it is to me, I am encouraging people to see it my way and to me, that's not what rock lyrics are for. I believe rock lyrics should be open to interpretation and I wrote these so they could be.
While I could explain the story as I see it that would detract from the potential multifarious meanings that will come about from people applying their own sense of feeling from their life experience, much as they always do.
The tracklisting to The Empyrean is:
1. "Before the Beginning"
2. "Song to the Siren" (Tim Buckley cover)
3. "Unreachable"
4. "God"
5. "Dark/Light"
6. "Heaven"
7. "Enough of Me"
8. "Central"
9. "One More of Me"
10. "After the Ending"
John Frusciante "Dying Song"
On Frusciante's website, he tells us the record is due out on January 20 via Record Collection and will come boasting guest appearances by RHCP band-mate Flea, as well as another notable guitar hero, Johnny Marr (as if this guy wasn't busy enough already).
Frusciante also goes on to say The Empyrean is "a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically," ideally played as loud as possible in dark living rooms late at night.
"The drive to create music that is pure is my highest priority," Frusciante recently told MusicRadar. "Sometimes I'll get extremely technical in my approach, and other times I'll just kind of go with the gods of music.
"I think an artist has to answer to whatever spirits are guiding him. Even if they're in conflict, that's okay."
When asked about any future Red Hot Chili Pepper activity, though, Frusciante remained rather mum, only saying the group had "no plans."
Fortunately, he did have quite a bit more to say about The Empyrean. Here is his latest blog update about where he's coming from on this one:
My describing The Empyrean as a story is accurate from my viewpoint, but misleading, as there are no road signs to lead someone else to perceive a clear story out of it. There was no intention to write what would be seen as clear-cut story, though it is one to me. Being that it takes place in the mind of one person, no laws of time and space, or concrete relationships exist therein. This is to say that if you look into it with your logical brain you will only strain yourself and come up with nothing.
The words were specifically written to document an inner experience of life, the kind that a person has extreme difficulty translating to anyone else. Part of the intention was to write words to connect with other people who have been, or are, overwhelmed by the confusing, inescapable inner world they must live in. Equal attention was given to writing words that would gently direct themselves towards the listeners' intuitive brain, and their sub-conscience, which I believe comprehends and catalogues everything in a much richer and more multi layered way than our conscious mind.
Like a lot of lyrics, it was written to be perceived in as many ways as there are people hearing it. A person to whom the words have no clear, conscious meaning may derive more from it than someone who reads it as I do, and so I recommend hearing or reading it however you will. It would have been simpler to say nothing at all but this only fully occurred to me today, as I have gradually realized that by saying what it is to me, I am encouraging people to see it my way and to me, that's not what rock lyrics are for. I believe rock lyrics should be open to interpretation and I wrote these so they could be.
While I could explain the story as I see it that would detract from the potential multifarious meanings that will come about from people applying their own sense of feeling from their life experience, much as they always do.
The tracklisting to The Empyrean is:
1. "Before the Beginning"
2. "Song to the Siren" (Tim Buckley cover)
3. "Unreachable"
4. "God"
5. "Dark/Light"
6. "Heaven"
7. "Enough of Me"
8. "Central"
9. "One More of Me"
10. "After the Ending"
John Frusciante "Dying Song"