The Will to Death

John Frusciante kicked it into high gear in 2004, not only releasing Shadows Collide With People through Warner Bros., but also planning to release an album every other month or so through the rest of the year on the Recordcollection label. The first of these releases is Will to Death, a collaboration with Josh Klinghoffer (who also helped out with Shadows Collide With People). Those familiar with Frusciante's other solo work will know that this material will be far from Red Hot Chili Peppers lite: Frusciante definitely has his own (somewhat haunted) muse. The songs are basically nice little pop tunes, with hard-panned oddball production and very personal, introspective lyrics. This album also marks a new personal aesthetic for Frusciante: he wanted these songs to be raw and immediate (as inspired by some of his favorite albums), and to this end there were very few takes involved with any of these songs, and mistakes and elements of chance found their way in as well. Frusciante's voice has come a long way, and there are some really interesting production touches like all the backwards touches on "A Loop" and the double-tracked piano tinkling on "Wishing." There's almost nothing in the way of guitar heroics and it's far from groundbreaking, but fans of darkly personal skewed pop should enjoy Will to Death.