Flea’s Honora arrives with a premise that could easily have tipped into pretentious indulgence. A rock star turns 60, returns to an instrument from his youth, brings in a serious group of players, and makes a jazz record.
Granted, there are plenty of examples of that going wrong, but what’s striking with Flea is how little it feels like a vanity project.
Flea has previously spoken about identity, about how much of a person is shaped by where they’ve been, and that idea sits behind these recordings, with Australia, New York and Los Angeles all shaping his life in different ways. It’s that sense of movement that’s baked into the music.
Early on, ‘A Plea’ puts the trumpet front and centre, not showy, but searching, circling around a loose groove while Flea delivers a spoken appeal for empathy that could easily feel heavy-handed but just about holds because of the conviction behind it.
‘Traffic Lights’, with Thom Yorke, is one of the more immediately engaging moments. Yorke’s voice brings a familiar unease, and the track moves between warmth and disorientation without ever quite resolving. It’s a good example of how the collaborations work across the record, they add texture without taking over.
The second half turns to covers, and while the energy dips slightly, there are still strong moments. ‘Maggot Brain’ is reworked with restraint and deference, with an understanding that aping the original too closely or trying to transform it too much would have been a mistake either way. Flea swaps the guitar heroics of Eddie Hazel for something softer and more measured. ‘Wichita Lineman’, with Nick Cave, is perhaps the most straightforward track here, but it’s effective, a simple, well-judged reading that suits the tone of the album.
For a first solo statement in this mode, Honora is more than respectable. It’s thoughtful, occasionally absorbing, and, at its best, quietly moving.
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