By Sean Gould
From the Sounds Inside, by John Frusciante, is another testament to the brilliance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers' guitar player. The album is available for download here.
Created in 2001 around the same time as To Record Only Water For Ten Days, From the Sounds Inside shares the same bare style, and a few of the same songs. The album features Frusciante on vocals, guitar, synthesizer, and drum machine.
Frusciante's voice is rough, especially when he goes into an almost piercing falsetto. His melodies are compressed yet emotional; his unique singing complements the stark instrumental parts. Frusciante's clean guitar work is beautifully simplistic and somewhat cold, like rain on the ocean somewhere where rain on the ocean is not warm, but cold.
The synthesizer is an important instrument in for this album, yet it is used in such an unobtrusive way that even the most ardent ludite should find the use of electronics appealing. Even if you dislike any musical technology beyond gut strings, the use of the electronics in the album will testify to their belonging beside Frusciante's voice and guitar work. The primitive synth sounds match Frusciante's vocals and guitar style, creating cool depths of texture.
While the album is mellow, it is too charged to be called laconic. The songs created a lot of empty space around the sounds which add to their energy and Apollonic beauty.
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