Staff Editor on March 23rd, 2022

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By JEFF MILLER

Josh Klinghoffer is alt-rock’s most unlikely chameleon: The shy L.A.-based multi-instrumentalist is a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer as a former member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He has done stints playing with artists like Beck, Gnarls Barkley and PJ Harvey; he serves as the current auxiliary-man for Pearl Jam and lead guitarist for Eddie Vedder; and he is mostly known as a sideman, the most reliable for-hire in the game.

With touring halted, the pandemic would have seemed a good time for Klinghoffer to turn his attention to Dot Hacker, the experimental rock quartet he fronts. But logistics prevented that, so, with a boost from DH bandmate Clint Walsh, Klinghoffer turned his attention to Pluralone, the solo project he launched in 2019.

Pluralone’s new album, “This is the Show,” puts him out front at a much larger scale: The band is opening for Pearl Jam’s upcoming arena tour, and since his departure from the Chili Peppers just before the pandemic, it’s become clear that Klinghoffer’s days of loudly disappearing into the background may be, well, behind him.

So how’s he taking to that frontman life? Unsurprisingly, pretty well. Klinghoffer’s head-voice whine has more in common with Billy Corgan than any of the Smashing Pumpkins’ singer’s contemporaries that Klinghoffer’s moonlighted with through the years, but on songs like the odd-timed “Claw Your Way Out,” he finds personality in that wail, a longing plaintiveness that emotes with both honesty and angst.

Along with Walsh, Klinghoffer uses the studio to add texture and depth to songwriting that feels both economical and meticulous: the back half of the album, especially, is full of unexpected keyboard fills and soundscape-filling guitars that help give the album breadth. The highlight “Wait for Me” opens with a solo-keyboard meander before exploding into a waltz-shuffle rife with country-rock slide guitars.

“This is the Show” is the sound of an artist who’s spent time lifting other people up finding his own voice, for sure — with ample room for future amplification as well.

||| Stream: “This is the Show” in its entirety