Review Summary: Where's the songwriting, John?
John Frusciante has never been afraid to be different. With a commercially successful career with the Red Hot Chili Peppers already in place, Frusciante has been able to experiment freely with his solo work. 2001 release “To Record Only Water for Ten Days” is evident of this, incorporating electronica influences into his already astounding songwriting. With “Shadows Collide With People,” John even infused strange sounds into his music, especially on the instrumental tracks. Even with his latest release “The Empyrean,” Frusciante developed something entirely different, utilizing many effects in order to create the sensation that the listener was inside his brain. Although the experimentation was apparent in all of these releases, his most exploratory record to date is that of “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence.”
In the years 2004 and 2005, John Frusciante had recorded six separate releases to his name, including some of the best material of his illustrious career. Despite the inability to spend a great deal of time on recording these albums, pretty much all of the records have received critical acclaim. “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence” was Frusciante’s final release of 2004, and the fourth full-length record of the year. To this day, the album may be the least recognized of the time period, and quite possibly of his solo career. For this particular release, Frusciante had joined forces with guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who has worked with both Frusciante and the Red Hot Chili Peppers before along with several other groups. With “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence” Klinghoffer and Frusciante offer the listener something utterly dissimilar to the rest of their work, to an extent which brings the record down.
Frusciante has always been known for his pure passionate vocals and inspired songwriting. On “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence,” both of these assets are kept to a minimum. Klinghoffer takes the reins as lead singer for a large portion of the album, his soothing and almost feminine-sounding vocals offering a disparity to Frusciante’s versatile voice. Klinghoffer’s highlight comes into play in the fourth track
Communique, in which is a haunting piano-laden ballad that builds and builds to something much more powerful. The wind effects provide an interesting vibe to the song, and the track is one of the record’s lone underscores. The following track
At Your Enemies however, comes off as a bit of a mess with the electronic feel and strange effects. Klinghoffer’s vocals are boarder-line decipherable and the song is quite annoying to say the least. The opener
Sphere appears promising at the start with a synthesizer riff, but really does not develop or change at all, and is very repetitive for nearly nine minutes.
The record indeed seems to be missing the greatness that was contained in the rest of Frusciante’s work, especially in the songwriting department.
My Life proves to be the only spectacular track, but tragically only clocks in at just over a minute and a half. Frusciante’s powerful and emotional vocals make a rare appearance, and this appears to be the most sincere and passionate song on the record. However, due to its short length
My Life does not even come close to comparing to Frusciante classics
Song to Sing When I’m Lonely or
Anne. “A Sphere in the Heart of Silence” is not a bad record by any means, but is really lacking the emotion and inspiration that has been so apparent on Frusciante’s other solo work. Excessive experimentation brings the record down, although during this period Frusciante could afford this; for he had five other albums in the two year span in which the fans could be pleased about.
Recommended Tracks:
Communique
Surrogate People
My Life
