Red Hot Chili Peppers will return on April 1st with the group’s 12th album, Unlimited Love. The 17-track offering will mark the group’s latest studio effort since 2016’s The Getaway, and first with reinstalled guitarist John Frusciante since Stadium Arcadium in 2006. The album will also see RHCP reunite with longtime producer Rick Rubin following his absence from The Getaway.
Along with the announcement, Red Hot Chili Peppers shared the lead single “Black Summer”. Both the song and Deborah Chow-directed video capture the Zen approach the group has favored with age. From gentle beginnings, the song eventually roars to life courtesy of a solo from Frusciante, who firmly reinstates his place in the band. Centered around a reliable Chad Smith backbeat, the track is fairly subdued save for the crescendo of a hook.
In all, “Black Summer” encapsulates the familiar sound of 21st century Red Hot Chili Peppers, with up-to-date-yet-timeless lyrical observations in the chorus “It’s been a long summer since I made a new friend, waiting on another black summer to end/It’s been a long time and you never know when, waiting on another black summer to end.”
“Our only goal is to get lost in the music. We spent thousands of hours, collectively and individually, honing our craft and showing up for one another, to make the best album we could,” the band said in a statement about the album. “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,” the group added. “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. Rock out motherfuckers!”
Frusciante—who announced his return to the band in late 2019, replacing his replacement of 10 years Josh Klinghoffer—detailed the group’s creative process for Unlimited Love in his own statement.
“When we got together to start writing material, we began by playing old songs by people like Johnny ‘Guitar’ Watson, The Kinks, The New York Dolls, Richard Barrett, and others,” the guitarist said. “Ever so gradually, we started bringing in new ideas, and turning jams into songs, and after a couple of months the new stuff was all we were playing. The feeling of effortless fun we had when we were playing songs by other people, stayed with us the whole time we were writing. For me, this record represents our love for, and faith in each other.”
Check out the music video for “Black Summer” below or stream it on your preferred platform. Click here to pre-order Unlimited Love. Red Hot Chili Peppers will take Unlimited Love out on the road as part of a 2022 world tour. Set to begin in Europe in June, the tour will touch down in the U.S. on July 23rd in Denver, CO. For tickets and a full list of tour dates visit the band’s website.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Black Summer” (Official Music Video)
