John Frusciante

The Empyrean 10 Year Anniversary Reissue

Repress of 10 year anniverssary vinyl reissue of "The Empyrean" By John Frusciante cut for the original analog tapes at Bernie Grundman's mastering. THE EMPYREAN is the eighth solo album by JOHN FRUSCIANTE. It was originally released in January of 2009 and contains contributions from RHCP bandmate FLEA and former guitarist of The Smiths Johnny Marr. Empyrean starts out with a fantastic instrumental called "Before the Beginning": a great minor key guitar solo, replete with echoplexed drums that was surely inspired by "Maggot Brain." After that, it's back to the kind of introspective songs that have characterized much (but not all) of Frusciantes solo work. His singing is actually pretty remarkable considering his initial forays into vocals. He sounds confident and assured, even as the subject matter wrestles with dark thoughts and doubt. The songs tend to be fairly spare with guitar, electric piano, bass and drums with strings adding some lushness towards the end. The guitarist, singer, composer, and producer may be best known as the guitarist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. He recorded six plus studio albums with them and was inducted into the ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME. Frusciante has an active solo career, having released many solo albums and EPs; his recordings include elements ranging from experimental rock and ambient music to new wave and electronica.