To Record Only Water For Ten Days

Frusciante channels his creative spirits through a homegrown hybrid of early '80s new wave and late '60s acid rock that sounds a lot better than it reads on paper.

The record is both labour of love and exorcism - Frusciante plays every instrument himself and every song is, without exception, pointedly self-analytical and emotionally probing. This, combined with Frusciante's ropey but breath-catchingly fraught voice, can make for uncomfortable listening. Nevertheless, there remains an underlying optimism and fondness for unapologetically pretty melodies that imparts a redeeming and lasting warmth.

The formula here is for Frusciante to carve tunes out of loose, cyclical riffs, a few basic samples and drum programmes and his own parched voice. Sometimes, as on 'Remain', the effect is slightly uncomfortable... Tough that out, and get used to the demo quality throughout, and there are some decent songs on 'To Record Only Water,' endearing for their rawness and honesty.

To Record lacks the flashes of experimental brilliance found on Frusciante's earlier albums, but it quietly reaffirms the promise of a songwriter who can be simultaneously impenetrable, strange and oddly magnificent.