♫ Alain Johannes | C

Alain Johannes has finally released a solo album. Johannes, the co-leader of the band Eleven and a former member of Queens of the Stone Age, made his solo debut with Spark — a short and bitter album. Running less than half an hour long, Spark seems heavily focused on the death of his wife that took place in 2008, as well as the death of his bandmate from Eleven, Natasha Shneider.

"Endless Eyes," the album's opening track, is an obvious tribute to his wife. The song exemplifies the fact that Johannes's voice is an acquired taste. His vocals often border sounding over nasally and annoying as he pines, "Oh my heart/that you stole so long ago/has returned to me this day/so full and empty." The song may have the potential to be better appreciated as an instrumental piece as Johannes's guitar-playing skills are indisputable.

To continue forward with the collection songs, "Return to You" is a largely forgettable folk track on the album. Johannes repeats the phrase "Give the love" numerous times during the song, leaving listeners with an unsettling sense of redundancy. "Return to You" feels too much like an awkward song for a charity campaign.

"Speechless" and "Make God Jealous" are two noteworthy tracks in existence on the album's contents. Both feature intense, sinister guitar strumming, something that Johannes always excels at. "Speechless" has odd, cooing keyboard noises in the background, which make it seem like Johannes is making music with outer-space forces.

The titles of the rest of the songs are telling to the album's theme. "The Bleeding Whole," "Gentle Ghosts" and "Unfinished Plan" are all translucent words to how Johannes feels about his recent losses. The death of Shneider is clearly an open emotional and creative wound; however, the songs themselves are unmemorable. It's evident that Johannes should have spent more time crafting Spark because his creativity did not shine as brightly as it could have.