A Long-Awaited Solo Debut
Honora is the album Flea has always wanted to make. Now 63 years old, the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist has worked on numerous side projects, appeared in films, and even penned an autobiography. Yet, Honora is Flea’s first solo record. Back in 1991, Flea told a friend that he wanted to craft “an instrumental record with deep hypnotic grooves, trippy melodies layered on top, meditations on a groove.” Three and a half decades later, he made it happen.
A Genre-Defying Sound
Honora exists in a strange place. It’s essentially a jazz record, which will likely turn off RHCP fans. And jazz heads may approach the record with skepticism since Flea’s day job band is often maligned by “serious” music fans, including by one musician who turns up on a song here as a guest vocalist.
But just check out the pedigree of the folks Flea worked with to bring Honora to life. Rather than team up with older musicians, the bassist joined forces with some of the hottest names in modern jazz, including saxophonist Josh Johnson (who also produced the album), bassist Anna Butterss, guitarist Jeff Parker, and drummer Deantoni Parks. By surrounding himself with youthful collaborators, Flea has created an album full of surprises and daring moments.
Collaborations and Highlights
After the brief “Golden Wingship,” Honora truly kicks off with “A Plea.” It’s one of the few tracks to feature Flea on vocals and rather than sing, the bassist rants like Gary Burger from the Monks, decrying how politics have destroyed our society and that peace and love is the true answer. It may sound like watered-down flower power, but Flea is self-aware. “I’m not being corny this shit is real,” he claims before the backing vocalists repeat his peace and love mantra.
Of the 10 tracks, six are original compositions and the rest are covers. The album also allows Flea to pick up the trumpet, something he does well on a cover of Frank Ocean’s “Thinkin Bout You” and Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain.” Nick Cave sings lead on a cover of “Wichita Lineman” and Thom Yorke lends his vocals to the twitchy original “Traffic Lights.” But the true standout here is “Frailed,” a 10-minute instrumental juxtaposing Flea’s spectral trumpet against a minimalist dub beat and strange electronic atmospherics.