When times are rough, it’s not often that we look to the music of Red Hot Chili Peppers for solace — perhaps when we do, it’s for the cathartic bliss of “Under the Bridge,” the meditative beauty of “Otherside,” or even the infectious energy of “Can’t Stop.” But overall, Red Hot Chili Peppers rarely shoot for the heart, opting instead for the funk-punk explosion that tends to scratch a different kind of itch.
With their twelfth studio album, Unlimited Love (out Friday, April 1st), the Chili Peppers are keen on changing that idea. Upon announcing an expansive world tour (with a really impressive list of openers) in support of Unlimited Love, they also confirmed the return of longtime guitarist John Frusciante, who hadn’t recorded with the band since 2006’s Stadium Arcadium.
Not only that, Unlimited Love finds the California quartet reunited with Rick Rubin, who produced every album in the band’s discography since 1989 (save for 2016’s Danger Mouse-helmed The Gateway). With their classic lineup and collaborator in tow, Unlimited Love promises to be a rebirth of Red Hot Chili Peppers — a return to form, if you will.
Of course, a band can’t really return to form if they never really left: though Frusciante’s replacement Josh Klingoffer added an element of restraint and stability to Flea, Anthony Kiedis, and Chad Smith’s raucous sonic adventures throughout the last two albums, that magic recipe is pretty much always the same. Whereas The Getaway dabbled in the Danger Mouse universe of tight-but-fuzzy, kaleidoscopic rock, Unlimited Love feels much closer to 2011’s I’m With You and the five-time Grammy-winning Stadium Arcadium.
