STEVE VAI Announces New Studio Album: Inviolate Released via Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group
2nd December 2021Steve Vai and Favored Nations / Mascot Label Group have announced his new studio albumĀ Inviolate will be released digitally and on CD January 28, 2022.Ā The LP will follow on March 18. Today, they present the song āLittle Prettyā
The recording is a dark-toned fusion-funk workout played almost exclusively on a Gretsch hollow body guitar. As for what led Vai to the unusual (at least for him) model, he says, āItās on the wall with all the other guitars, and Iād always just look at it and go, āOne day Iām going to play youā¦āāĀ
Ā
Over the course of a more than 40-year career, Steve Vai has routinely transformed what would appear to be outrageously impossible into something very, very possibleā¦ and still also pretty outrageous. From his days as Frank Zappaās āstunt guitarā player to his more recent expansive and exploratory solo work, Vai has continually challenged notions of traditional guitar playing and composition.
Inviolate presents his most focused, streamlined and perhaps invigorating music in years. āItās very āVai,ā whatever that means,ā he says, and then laughs. āSomeone else might be better than me at explaining what that is. But itās just very honest music. Because a lot of my records, they’re long and there’s a lot of concepts and playing around with stories. This one has none of that. This is nine pretty dense all-instrumental compositions that I wanted to capture and record so I could get out there and play them live for people.ā
Ā
The albumās mesmeric opener, āTeeth of the Hydra,ā a sinuous, Latin-fusion-tinged composition that Vai wrote and recorded with a one-of-a-kind custom guitar he coined the Hydra. Built in conjunction with the designers at Hoshino and based on a āsteampunk motifā idea of Vaiās, the Hydra is a beast of an instrument ā a one-bodied, two-headstock-ed, three-neck-ed creature that encompasses, among other things: seven- and 12-string guitars; a four-string bass; sympathetic harp strings; half-fretless necks; single-coil, humbucking, piezo and sustainer pickups; floating and hardtail tremolo bridges; phase splitters; and much, much more. āIt’s an incredibly-built machine,ā Vai says.Ā
Ā
Throughout the track he employs the Hydraās full range of tone and timbres to craft a guitar part that sounds, in its expansiveness and expressiveness, positively alive. āThe interesting thing about the song and the guitar is that it all came at the same time,ā Vai says. āIt was one of those āinviolateā inspirations ā boom!ā
Ā
That said, he continues, āI knew that I needed to create something with the Hydra that sounded like a real piece of music. It couldnāt be just a novelty. Because if you knew what my hands were doing, and how I’m using my left hand to create phrasings that work when I can’t pick a note because my right hand is off somewhere elseā¦my god. But the finished piece had to stand on its own. It couldn’t sound like I was just trying to juggle stuff.ā
Ā
Over the course of 2021, several of these compositions were shared publicly. Vai composed and recorded the song āKnappsack,ā following his shoulder surgery, at a time when his right arm was in a sling (or, as his surgeon, Dr. Knapp, called it, a āknappsackā), and thus was able to use only his left hand when playing the piece. He released a one-handed performance video which can be seen here.Ā Ā
Like āKnappsack,ā Vai released āCandle Powerā and an accompanying performance video earlier in 2021. But he added a little something extra to the version that appears on Inviolate, with a newly recorded drum track from fellow Zappa alumnus Terry Bozzio (to that end, additional crack players who lent a hand to the record include bassists Bryan Beller, Philip Bynoe and Henrik Linder, keyboardist David Rosenthal and drummer Vinnie Colaiuta). You can watch the videoĀ here.
Ā
Or cue up āApollo in Color,ā where Vaiās soaring runs on his Ibanez PIA signature guitar (the newly-designed modelās first appearance on a Vai studio album, itās worth noting) are surrounded by filigrees of sound played on all manner of exotic stringed instruments. In essence, it all comes down to finding your own voice, and then having the courage and conviction to follow your musical and creative instincts wherever they may take you ā something Vai has never been shy about in his playing. āOne of the great things about the guitar is you don’t need to be a virtuoso to express your creative vision,ā he says. āI mean, Bob Dylan plays the guitar perfectly well for his expression. So does John McLaughlin. You just need to decide how much technique you want or need to get there. For myself, I came out of the chute wanting and needing it all. So, when it comes to my music, I donāt feel like I have to prove anything or conform to anything. I just love to think up creative ideas, and then use whatever skill I have to manifest them.ā
Ā
āAn inviolate inspiration is one that comes to you completely pure,ā Vai explains. āIt appears almost in its completeness, and thereās a recognition of it as being right for you ā perfectly right for you. Thereās no excuses in it. There’s no fantasy in it. There’s just a recognition of āyes.ā And then you capture that in a way thatās authentic to your unique creativity. Hopefully, thatās what Iāve done with this record.ā
Ā
Track List
1. Teeth Of The Hydra
2. Zeus In Chains
3. Little Pretty
4. Candlepower
5. Apollo In Color
6. Avalancha
7. Greenish Blues
8. Knappsack
9. Sandman Cloud MistĀ