2004 was a remarkable year for John Frusciante, with the release of six consistently fantastic albums he recorded in the space of six months on a break from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Released just months after Shadows Collide With People, an album that reportedly cost $300,000 to record and was very production heavy, The Will To Death was a conscious effort to be the opposite of Shadows.

“On The Will to Death, I thought it would be a good idea to make a record with very little backing vocals, because we’d done it so much on Shadows. I always have to have a new idea for each album. For The Will to Death, the idea was to have very little backing vocals. There’s a lot of other huge differences. In every way, I wanted the opposite of Shadows.” : Frusciante

A simple but beautiful album, The Will to Death works solely on the songwriting ability of Frusciante. Whilst the production is sometimes confusing with Frusciante using techniques that would seem unnatural with most other acts, he brings it together with an album that feels real through its honesty and simplicity. The main themes are life and death, but it’s definitely not a dark album with Ttought provoking lyrics and interesting harmony.

It’s very difficult to choose which album from this series deserves the title of Album of the Year, and if Curtains (the last of the series to be released, in early 2005) was released on schedule within 2004 then that would be my album of the year. Alistair on the other hand rates Shadows Collide With People at number one but for me, it is the beauty in modesty heard in tracks like The Days Have Turned and The Will to Death that makes The Will to Death one of my favourite albums of 2004.

Greg (currently in Bangkok)