SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: FLEA – HONORA

FLEA
HONORA
NONESUCH RECORDS

Whispers of Flea, the jazz musician, have persisted for decades. While it is commonly known that before picking up the bass, his first instrument was the trumpet, and he regularly expresses his love for jazz and experimental music in interviews and via social media, there have been hints over the years that suggest there is much more to the legendary wild man that is the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ bassist. From the acid jazz of his 2012 EP, Helen Burns, to Atoms For Peace, his collaborative project with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, or the fact that, in 2008, he enrolled at the University of Southern California to study music theory, composition, and jazz performance on the trumpet, it is clear that Flea remains eternally driven by a genuine love for music and creation. Enter Honora, the debut, full-length solo album from Flea. Preceded by three singles, “A Plea,” “Traffic Lights,” and “Thinkin Bout You,” the album is split between wildly experiment originals and striking covers from the likes of Funkadelic and Frank Ocean to Glen Campbell.

Honora opens with the swirling mysticism of “Golden Wingship.” While only lasting a moment, the song swells to a cacophony of sound, conjuring feelings of suspense and intrigue, establishing a new-age sound that plays off both traditional and modern jazz, fusion, and the avantgarde. This leads directly into the album’s lead single, “A Plea,” a song driven by a highly rhythmic and melodic bassline which runs counter to the warm resonance of an upright bass, frenetic drums, a clean electric guitar, and a chorus of horns as a flute solo usher the listener in towards the lush soundscape presented by Flea and The Honora Band. At roughly the halfway point, Flea comes in on the mic, like a beat poet expelling messages of peace and unity over a band that remains cool and collected before violently erupting into an escalated and thrashing passage. There is no denying the passion, excitement, and musicianship behind this record, with “A Plea” standing as the spiritual core of the album. Continuing forward is the second single, “Traffic Lights,” featuring Yorke on vocals. The song resides on Latin and Afrobeat rhythms with the horns playing a counter melody to Yorke’s hauntingly beautiful voice which reverberates somewhere just above the frequencies of the rest of the band. Everything in the performance, songwriting, arrangement, and production behind “Traffic Lights” is remarkable, making it among one of the strongest songs on Honora.

The album continues without a moment of weakness. From the 10-minute synth drone where cold, electronic beats collide with warm, avantgarde instrumentation, to the fairly traditional “Morning Cry”, a song that feels like a successful attempt at writing a modern jazz standard, Honora shines for its stellar performances and songwriting. Furthermore, the covers continue to demonstrate Flea’s ability to reinterpret a range of music into the jazz context. From the trumpet solo on the atmospheric “Maggot Brain,” the stirring Nick Cave led “Wichita Lineman,” to the unmatched melodicism of “Thinkin Bout You,” and the electronic foundation of Ann Ronell’s 1932 standard, “Willow Weep For Me,” the critical attention to reinvention is equal to that of the conviction that supports original creation.

While Flea has long carried the aesthetic of a musician’s musician and a consummate lover of music and the bizarre, Honora serves as an official marker of Flea’s artistry beyond the Chili Peppers. In this case, Flea revels in the unknown as he charts a remarkably brilliant path that, in place of the conventional, embraces risks, indulges in chaos, and is driven by a raw, unfiltered sense of creativity. In this regard, Honora is not a record for everyone by design. Its highly experimental nature is a strong artistic statement that embodies a side to Flea’s musicality that is rarely shown, making for something truly special, highly original, and entirely unique. Ultimately, Honora sonically represents Flea’s soulful journey in his pursuit of the greatest reaches of his creativity and, in doing so, stumbles upon greatness in a record that feels completely unprecedented.

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