Red Hot Chili Peppers unveil their new album and twelfth full-length offering, Unlimited Love [Warner Records], on April 1, 2022. It notably marks their first recording with guitarist John Frusciante since 2006 and first with producer and longtime collaborator Rick Rubin since 2011. To herald Unlimited Love, the Los Angeles band just shared the first single and music video “Black Summer.”
“Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We (John, Anthony, Chad and Flea) spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could. Our antennae attuned to the divine cosmos, we were just so damn grateful for the opportunity to be in a room together, and, once again, try to get better. Days, weeks and months spent listening to each other, composing, jamming freely, and arranging the fruit of those jams with great care and purpose. The sounds, rhythms, vibrations, words and melodies had us enrapt.
We yearn to shine a light in the world, to uplift, connect, and bring people together. Each of the songs on our new album UNLIMITED LOVE, is a facet of us, reflecting our view of the universe. This is our life’s mission. We work, focus, and prepare, so that when the biggest wave comes, we are ready to ride it. The ocean has gifted us a mighty wave and this record is the ride that is the sum of our lives. Thank you for listening, we hope you enjoy it.
On lead track “Black Summer,” ethereal guitar underlines introspective lyrics as the rhythm unlocks a hypnotic drum groove highlighted by evocative bass. It quietly inhales only to exhale with a massive refrain, “It’s been a long time since I made a new friend, waiting on another black summer to end,” before a guitar solo echoes to the heavens and back.
Unlimited Love resumes a three-decade partnership with Rick Rubin [Johnny Cash, Adele]. Their creative collaboration spans legendary albums, including the diamond-selling Blood Sugar Sex Magik [1991], Californication [1999], By The Way [2002], and Stadium Arcadium [2006].
The interplay between the band borders on intergalactic once again—yet elevated to another stratosphere altogether. Unlimited Love represents the united spirit of four individual souls still fearlessly exploring the future of their eternal friendship and musical congregation.
Side A
1. BLACK SUMMER
2. HERE EVER AFTER
3. AQUATIC MOUTH DANCE
4. NOT THE ONE
Side B
1. POSTER CHILD
2. THE GREAT APES
3. IT’S ONLY NATURAL
4. SHE’S A LOVER
Side C
1. THESE ARE THE WAYS
2. WHATCHU THINKIN’
3. BASTARDS OF LIGHT
4. WHITE BRAIDS & PILLOW CHAIR
5. ONE WAY TRAFFIC
Side D
1. VERONICA
2. LET ‘EM CRY
3. THE HEAVY WING
4. TANGELO
