Everything pointed to the very essence of Red Hot Chili Peppers, their return to elastic funk-rock with the demonic instrumental watering that gave them so much joy in the ’90s: a remake of fetish producer Rick Rubin and, above all, genius guitarist John Frusciante. conscription. But Unlimited love isn’t a flashback for Sex Sugar sex magik (1991) or Californication (1999), because turning back the clock is often not a viable action.
Here’s a less explosive album, but not therefore floundering or boring, although exploring it is appropriate to go beyond the first impression. The lead single, Black Summer, prepared us for chiaroscuro with that collected cadence of Anthony Kiedis sighing for “the end of another black summer” with gestures of resignation readable in the covid-19 code. The surprise is that the album as a whole tends to move around mid-tempo and subtle groove, only opening up to funky spasm and rock oil here and there, where Flea’s clean bass arpeggios and Frusciante’s frenzied guitar come together for a burning smack. allied. However, even within these contained parameters, the Peppers do not disappear, they continue to sound like themselves. Absorbing boundless love takes some work, as it’s a long album (17 songs) rich in hidden reliefs (with exceptions like the howling chorus of one-way traffic). Half of the repertoire prefers a certain serenity between the extreme introspection of Not the one (in the case of Peppers) and the very limited suspense flashes of other major pieces like The great apes and Watchu thinkin. On a more extroverted recording, Always after and that sibylline Aquatic mouth dance stands out, tightening the string, Flea not only sustaining it with bass but also naivety with a jazzy trumpet. But between inner stillness and overt trepidation there is an ocean of mutable solutions that pushes the most canonical categories, and there Unlimited love finds a place to expand. These are White knits and pillow-chair-inducing ways and melodic spin, as well as the funky nightgown and silk talk in Poster boy, which should be mentioned rocker relief with a classical background.
existential concerns
With its mix of melancholy and processed nervous tension, and its chemistry that inhales its dynamics in jam flashes, Unlimited love unleashes the existential anguish the Red Hot Chili Peppers have dragged on for two decades. Faced with the abyss of chronic repetition (and with less grace each time), they opted to venture out in search of their adult souls, but that is certainly least expected by the public who will soon see them. World Tour.