John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers) Previews New Solo Electronic Album, ‘Maya,’ Named in Memory of His Cat

Guitarist John Frusciante rejoined the Red Hot Chili Peppers in late 2019, delighting fans who’d long sought his return to the group after a decade apart — only to see the COVID-19 pandemic ruin their 2020 tour plans. In the time since, Frusciante has put the finishing touches on a new solo album, and Maya will be released on Oct. 23.

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Its title is a tribute to Frusciante’s cat, Maya, who lived for 15 years before recently passing away.

Don’t expect electric guitar jams on this one, though. Maya is an experimental/electronic record, as previewed on Tuesday with a track called “Amethblowl”:

Frusciante has a robust solo career in addition to his work with the Chili Peppers over the years — releasing at least 10 solo studio albums in addition to a number of other recordings — and Maya will be his first-ever electronic LP under his own name.

Said John Frusciante in a statement about this new project: “For a full year before I started this record, I worked within self-imposed limitations and rules that made the music-making process as difficult as possible, programming for programming’s sake. After a full year of that, I decided to make things easier, to the degree that I could regularly finish tracks I enjoyed listening to, while continuing many of the practices I‘d developed. Throughout the recording of Maya, I would prepare to make each track very slowly, but would finish tracks very quickly. I’d spend weeks making breakbeats, souping up a drum machine, making DX7 patches, and so on. By the time an idea came up that seemed like the beginning of a tune, I had a lot of fresh elements ready to go.”