The Empyrean in charts + a great review by a_doubt
The Empyrean has gotten onto the official charts in Croatia in place 32 as a new entry, wrestling pretty well with well-promoted and popular albums by artists such as Katy Pery and Amy Winehouse. Thanks to Tihana for the heads-up!
Now, I assume many people know that I asked people on the board to try and write their own reviews of The Empyrean if they think they could do it well; and a significant number of members responded to the challenge. In the next few weeks, best reviews will be posted here and they’ll gain a permanent place on this website.
We’re kicking off with a rather impressive lengthy review originally written for Amazon.de by Ms. a_doubt, a long-term listener of John’s music, who amongst other things attended ATP in 2005 and generously recorded some RHCP shows in 2007. The review was translated for this occasion. a_doubt did her best to even determine what lines are spoken by the human and what lines are spoken by the other character. It’s an amazing read, so make sure you’re sitting tight.
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The Empyrean – A revolutionary opus
“The Empyrean is my new record (…). It is a concept record that tells a single story both musically and lyrically. The story takes place within one person, and there are two characters.” Thus John Frusciante announced his new album in November 2008 over the Internet, and furthermore “I’m really happy with it and I’ve listened to it a lot for the psychedelic experience it provides.”
Since reading this, I was anxious to listen to it.
Now that I have, I feel the need to write down all the things that came across my mind while listening. First of all you must hear this album several times to understand it, and if your approach is open-minded, you also want to hear it several times.
My first impression is: this is tough stuff; except Unreachable, which had already been put on Frusciante’s MySpace, no song appears to be catchy. I miss the ingenious pieces of guitar playing, only few of the 10 songs offer them. Instead of that, one can hear a landscape of sound effects, which label the album as being ‘produced’ rather than recorded. But after some time of settling, I feel really positive about these issues, realizing that The Empyrean benefits from the collected experience of the musician, singer and songwriter John Frusciante, who additionally set a course as a producer. And what makes him an exceptional musician is that he’s not limiting himself to apply this knowledge, but to courageously extend it, have a shot at new things, which surprise first, then however inspire.
While listening to the record, one should be aware of the words quoted at the beginning; it was his intention of telling a story also musically, this becomes evident within the many contrasts the album offers: Loud sections take turns with completely quiet one; some gentle violins or a bubbling sound carpet, then again distorted electric guitar or powerful drums with reverb. Regarding some parts with so many instrumental layers on top of each other, this might confuse the listener, but probably this was exactly the intention, when John mixed them. Anyway, it’s easy to agree upon the “psychedelic experience”.
Frusciante’s use of his voice is on the same agenda, as one experiences a further evolution of the vocal variation. Whether in bass range or using his falsetto voice, he sounds confident throughout all sections and adds highlights, like whispering or screaming. But this was not sufficient for the producer Frusciante, therefore the vocals were treated in several songs, sometimes they dominate one channel, or oscillate back and forth, or sound that distorted you may think they were recorded under water. In no case ‘The Empyrean’ is vocal-oriented nor guitar-oriented; the mix of both and many more instruments is what constitutes the album. It is recommended to listen to this opus either with decent headphones or as the creator advises “It should be played as loud as possible”, whereas one should consider a minimum distance of the speakers of 3 m at least in order to access the refined stereo effects.
People, who admire John Frusciante as a guitar hero, probably reach the ‘Empyrean’ during the first song. With more than 9 minutes, Before The Beginning is the longest track of the album and is purely instrumental. It starts very quietly, followed by drums with reverb and then comes in the electric guitar; first in a laid-back mood, then a bit melancholy and due to wah-wah-pedal and other effects never boring.
The next track is very quiet; Song To The Siren (originally by Tim Buckley from 1970) transfers the mood of the protagonist of this concept album musically and lyrically.
The 3rd song is already well known, and Unreachable would probably be suitable for a single release. Rhythmic drums form an interesting alternation; the vocals come with reverb or with some kind of water effect. After that an ingenious instrumental piece follows, with Rhodes sounds (electric piano), wah-wah guitar effects pedal and a grooving bass (that is Flea!).
In God you can hear John with a bright, first gentle voice as the second character. Powerful drums and electronic percussions help to build up tension soon, guitar and electric piano follow, and the vocals become more insistent (“be for me” after 2 minutes); at the end it calms down again and violins come in (Sonus Quartet as guest musicians), quite a surprising, but captivating expansion of the musical repertoire.
The 5th track Dark/Light actually contains two songs. Accompanied by a sad piano melody – later also an organ – you can hear John’s sensitive voice, which becomes nearly unrecognizable after a few seconds because of extreme reverb (somehow this sounds backwards), expressing the interior despair of the character to be heard here. After 2:43 Dark changes to Light, heralded by John’s falsetto voice, complemented delightfully by the deep voice of one of the New Dimension Singers, later the entire Gospel choir can be heard. Besides the choir, this part sticks out because of the rhythmic structure, directed by the bass groove (played by John this time), supported by guitar and synthesizers, and later on the choir comes with echo. Also typical for Light is the electronic drum machine, which is a bit annoying at first, but becomes less important within the increasing sound layers.
Heaven is a very calm song; John’s vocals sound particularly vulnerable. He is accompanied by guitar and Flea on bass, later joined by electric piano and drums (both Josh Klinghoffer); and near the end again by the string quartet. One should not underestimate this song, it’s haunting after a few rounds of listening…
…while track no. 7 Enough Of Me immediately draws the listener’s attention due to the unusual guitar solo. John sings in a slightly deeper voice, which was partially distorted in the chorus to sound torn. Guest musicians Flea (bass) and Johnny Marr (“multiple guitars” in the first part) both take a back seat in view of the following guitar solo, where Mr. Frusciante tries out a new style, in which high and deep notes alternate, producing an almost traumatizing sound by using an Electro-Harmonix English Muffin’ pedal.
The highlight of the album, Central, starts off with the strumming of an acoustic guitar (Johnny Marr), piano and undistorted singing, the voice is incredibly expressive during the chorus. After a short electronic jingle a psychedelic outro lasts for almost 5 minutes, with John singing the same lines over and over again. First accompanied by strings, the vocals soften and make way for the violins in full, to be followed by an uncanny sound with reverb; synthesizers take over; a guitar riff interferes, all instruments rise to a multi-dimensional sonic landscape; a scream is heard; then the singing becomes louder again and lonely violins herald the end (literally?). Epic!
Track no. 9 One More Of Me is the musical twin of no. 7, here John Frusciante surprises with an extreme bass voice, according to the booklet without “treatments”. The lyrics of this calm song are an anchor for understanding the album. Instrumentally reserved at first (only electric piano and strings), a scream is followed by a brilliant performance of the Sonus Quartet, what an ingenious alternative to the insane guitar solo in track no. 7!
During the last song After The Ending the voice comes with reverberation again, to sound quite unrecognizable, nevertheless it appears not as dark as in track no. 5. Piano and synthesizers create a special atmosphere, which suits the album perfectly. The last wise words are only whispered, so listen well!
“Whatever you create from love – is a gift from the place which some call above” (One More Of Me) is actually an adequate quote for summarizing ‘The Empyrean’, a deeply impressive album, created from the love to music. Thank you, John.
