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Enclosure – John Fruciante

 John Fruciante, A musician that is revered by many, for his contribution and role in the band, The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, But there is, as some say, A dark side to his music catalogue within his solo works, that lead him to supposedly “lose his mind amidst a series of heavy drug binges”, among other difficulties in his life, and put out some very "Un-Chillie” pepper like albums, starting with Niandre lades and usually just a t-Shirt. The Times described it as the first of his 'Psychotic episodes’, and while I personally do not like the album, this was his first attempt at experimental music, and is worth noting. Onto the second Psychotic episode, PBX, john writes on his own website, that Enclosure is the Final word in the Musical Statement that began with PBX, so having heard PBX would give one a good idea of the type of album they are about to listen to. PBX is a fast paced, “sloppily presented” shot in the dark, at the hardcore experimental electronic music aesthetic, and Enclosure could be considered his reattempt, at that specific aesthetic, while this is not every bodies cup of tea, and it isn’t, it does hold a certain quality.

 Shining Desert

Shining desert, The introduction to the album, is pounding electronic drum, with ambient noise to color, followed by heavily processed vocals weaving around an ambiguous tonal center, in other words, it would exactly go down well at a party. Enclosure does not disappoint the hardened fans of john previous album, PBX Funicular Intaglio Zone, his first attempt at this aesthetic, Characterized by the jarring electronic drum machine programming, who would of been following him closely and would of expected this kind of album, The listener instantly picks up that this is bound to be the underlying aesthetic to the whole album. While I will admit that this album features so, at times “questionable singing”, one must appreciate, if not a fan of PBX, that this album attempts to push the horizon of what he himself is capable of, although it does come across to me as more of a personnel journey for him to expand, rather then one that will revolutionize the world of electronic music in its entirety, this song is full of short moments that arouse the imagination, this album is full of short ideas that would be really nice if expanded on, but isn’t that the point of an experimental album anyways? To try it out for the sake of it, judge its potential, then immediate look for the next best thing? One reviewer says this album is like being “forced to pick through a basket of bruised fruit”, while I agree with that sentiment, one must consider the nature of an experimental Album, “At best it deftly threads melodies through inventive and energetic drum patterns; at worst it is an exercise in aimless and gratuitous experimentation”. After the sweet, dissonance of the single electronic kick drum has sounded long enough, comes the drum machines aesthetic of this album, you can not miss it. The drums sit around the grove with Johns odd guitar lines floating around in the distance, barely audible, the drum machine then goes ‘double time’, or get faster, for those musically illiterate, the Drum experimentation continues, with lots of interesting rhythmic variations in the form of the song, which keeps it fresh to the ear as it progresses, it becomes quickly apparent that this is going to be a theme for the rest of the album, and that the listener is in for a challenging, modern experimental album by a primarily rock guitarist, and it does show in his mixing that he is new to this, however that is for me what gives this album a truly original aesthetic, those of you who came for a chili peppers like guitar album should refrain from listening.

 Sleep

Sleep is a slightly more conventional track, Slightly, not in its own right, but when compared with the rest of the album, and it does hold true to some of John Fruciantes earlier work, carrying over glimpses of the song writing sensibilities displayed in previous albums considered less psychotic, such as curtains, and the will to death, but ultimately, as john puts it, “this album is the final word in the musical sentence that began with PBX, one of johns earlier albums, that mimics this kind of electronic/experimental aesthetic, thought I must admit, in this song it is much more understated, which in my opinion is a lot more affective then the previous track. The song continues after its softer intro, in typical fashion with many rhythmic variations in the drum machine parts, before building into a more interesting texture, only to drop back down the sweet soft world of the intro, this songs form is particularly interesting, exhibiting and complete stop in to a Hiphop style break, before shifting up a semi tone, Getting Higher in pitch, and then taking off yet again into a world of fairly simplistic sounding synth sounds characteristic of early craftwork. The synth sounds in this song a extremely basic and underdeveloped, which many people think is one of his weakness, but this is certainly one of the things that makes this song, and this album unique for me, as well as the extremely strange forms of the song, it does not go verse chorus verse, but more, verse, chorus, verse, random block of structure, into something else, finally back to verse, introducing new sections not heard before nine minutes into a song, the song finishes with some of Fruciantes painful screams down the microphone, that have been blended into the background for ambience.

 Run

Run was one of the more interesting songs on the album, the thing that stands out about this song is the massive rhythmic variations in this song that sometimes help to create really special moments throughout the album, a midst the chaos that is john Fruciantes creativity, this song is an absolute onslaught of distorted synth and guitar lines, sometime undistinguishable, but does feature a very interesting and well crafting ‘chorus’ were all the chaotic elements join together for a few seconds to create and exception descending line, the use of out of tune arpeggiated synth lines in this section only add to the almost creepy atmosphere of this song and album.

 Stage

Stage is yet another song following the albums over all aesthetic of intense drum machinery, experimentation and pulled back vocals leaving the tunes atmosphere ambient, and while some fans may feel “the genius guitar playing he’s known for is understated here, especially when compared to the influential work of his past”, in songs such as Wayne, Before The Beginning, and After The Ending, the last half of this song is completely “Kidnapped” by an absolutely astonishing outro of distorted guitars, layered over the intense drum machines screaming away in the background, the Guitars in this song are absolutely transcendent of the album and display some amazing artistry, “the entire last half of “Stage”—arrive not as mere tangents, but as the main event: Guitar is an oscillating vehicle that carries his music into new planes”, Further more, this song, and its fantastic Guitar lines, do seem to be a sort of landmark for this album, in terms of what he was aiming for, a point in which the album drifts slightly from the drum machine rhythmic variation theme, and moves slightly towards a nicer, more easily accepted aesthetic characterized by the lush guitar sound and lack of dissonance, The next song pushes this aesthetic even further.

 Fanfare

Arguably the most easily accepted song in terms of how ‘nice’ it sounds, after the dissonant intro has passed, and would probably be the typical music lovers favorite song on the album, after one listen that is, and reminds me of johns work on shadows collide with people, just a classic song, while more underdeveloped then shadows collide, it has its own thing going with the return of the underdeveloped synth sounds, and replaces the over developed, sometime forced sounding drum machinery for a more simple approach, just a beat with some fairly pleasant chord progressions, that comes as an extremely welcome break, but one must not understate the complexity of the harmonies being built up in this song, and the skilled layering of different textures, although like most of the album, the mixing on this song is below par.

 Cinch

At first, almost like some sort of electronic orchestra, exploring some interesting yet dark colors in the first minute or so of the song, the into shows off some very nicely layered levels of harmony building up some interesting textures, then we are treated to one of the most interesting guitar solos on the album, the guitar has johns signature sound that many people know him for, Stratocaster with low level fuzz and lots of Wah Wah, it floats around each chord change charismatically with an informed idea of the harmony that is passing by underneath it, before hitting us again with our old friend, the drum machinery, and rhythmic variation that dominated the first 4 tracks of the album, slowly descending and breaking down into slower more jagged rhythms as the guitar solo continues.

 Zone

Zone, the next song, moves backwards slightly, back to the previous synth pop aesthetic of the song fanfare. this song for me, is a fairly balanced song, with reference to the aforementioned aesthetic themes in the albums, this song merges, the rhythmic variation of the drum machines, with the odd song writing sensibilities of johns earlier works, but proceeds to experiment with a variety of colors between the vocal and synth lines that create some, at times, questionable harmony, but at other times, some absolutely magical moments that shouldn’t be beautiful, but are. This song also features song nice key changes towards the end, as well as some unusual chords changes and interesting forms, that trick you and play with your expectation of what you think may come next, or when things may change. The second half of the song is a short guitar ballad between multiple guitars with a much sweeter progression, reminiscing of earlier works of his featuring the same instruments and sound such as the song Murderers, and Pretty Little Ditty.

 Crowded

Crowded, is one of the more interesting songs on the album, the introduction of crowded is unlike any other on the album, it is a slow swing feel featuring very specifically crafted rhythms looping around the beats, before shooting off into a world of alt rock, but with the addition of the vocal lines, it slowly recedes back to familiar territory of Sleep, creating that kind of vibe, before bursting into a more conventional chorus, and of course, the Drum Machinery that I have grown to dislike somewhat after multiple listens, but multiple listens of this album is definitely rewarding, I digress, the vocals in the seconds chorus progress into arguably one of the heaviest or most intense moments in the album, perhaps the only heavy moment when using the word in the traditional sense, but his screams add a certain intensity to the chorus, before the song depends again into the drum machinery that defines the album as a whole, there are some very fast knots being fazed around each other ouch of time in the drum patters, and lots of out of tune, 'jazzier’ extensions going on in the guitar lines, such as the sharp nine, or flat five.

 Excuses the final track on the album, is a confusing ordeal at first, it’s a mishmash of old school metallic sounding moog presets, until the harmony of the ‘chorus’ moves in and creates an extremely sweet sounding chord progression and melody, this is one of those little moments on this albums, little parts that create amazing sounding little harmonies, in this case a melody between the string section and vocal part, before the song absolutely loses its mind, which is a common theme throughout this album, this song sounds like being at a fan fare where all the circus performers went insane and started butchering people left and right, but is quite a fun section ultimately. The songs Finale, is a half time, incredibly satisfying texture along with some thick and interesting layers, and about 3 or 4 false endings, were you think its all over, and then descend into yet another beautiful string progression.

 The Album Enclosure, by John Cruciate is, all in all, is a very interesting and challenging listen for any music lover, musician, or fan of johns work, this album will satisfy you and intrigue you for its entirety. The album is successful, in terms of what its aiming for, it attempts to be experimental, but does not do so much as to alienate the listener, is melodically pleasing enough to be somewhat pleasurable for people to enjoy, and this sense only increases as one becomes for acquainted with the album, and one must listen multiple times to truly understand this album, but this album is too fun of small bits like this, that I would love to hear expanded into most coherent ideas with more structure, it would be a welcome change from the relentless drum machine aesthetic, and the over the top 80s pop angle, It might be difficult to hear the songs as a cohesive statement across the entire album, but each individual gem is such an enjoyable capsule of creation and tinkering that it’s quite an adventurous and athletic listen.

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