The Empyrean opens with a modest nine-minute guitar solo that suggests Chili Pepper John Frusciante's been listening to Funkadelic's Maggot Brain and decided to attempt a similar opening salvo. It's not quite as gut wrenching as Eddie Hazel's overdriven guitarwork but it contains shadows of its doom. As a solo artist, Frusciante has shown impressive reach, writing and performing everything from quirky pop songs to impressionistic tone poems to metronomic Krautrock. He prefers live performances, capturing the chemistry between musicians and allowing the "mistakes" to speak for themselves. The Empyrean is more carefully composed, featuring guest spots from Johnny Marr, Flea, Sonus Quartet, and the New Dimension Singers. Tim Buckley's "Song to the Siren" is given a quiet emotive read. "Unreachable" sports a psychedelic pop that slows to a crawl. Frusciante's love for pop music, experimental rock and consistently shifting textures is evident throughout, as the guitar solos explode into new other-worldly dimensions and the vocals swing from pop to eerie choir incantations ("Dark / Light").  

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