Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist John Frusciante has released a new six-song LP under the name Trickfinger, titled She Smiles Because She Presses The Button. The disc comes less than two months after his last solo outing, Look Down, See Us.
The ambient electronic style is a far cry from the music Frusciante has made with the Chili Peppers. The new album is the result of what a statement called years of being immersed “in machines, learning tracker programs, synths and drum machines inside and out, applying the same, tireless approach he’s exhibited throughout his career.”
Frusciante has recorded nearly two dozen records on his own, singing on many of them. While he doesn't do so on the Trickfinger discs, Frusciante told us a while back that he enjoys singing: “Oh, I've always been comfortable with singing, you know. When I started playing guitar the first thing I did was sing. I made up punk rock songs. The moment I started, I pulled the guitar out of the closet — it had been there for like five years — and I wrote like thirty punk songs in a row into a tape recorder, just singing and playing the guitar. They've gone alongside of each other my whole life.”
She Smiles will be followed up with another album before year’s end, which will make it the third Trickfinger LP of 2020.
Frusciante rejoined the Chili Peppers in 2019 after a 10-year break, replacing the man who took over for him, Josh Klinghoffer. The band has been working on music for a new album, although that project and some touring plans have been affected by the coronavirus outbreak.