Jack White – Boarding House Reach (Columbia/Third Man)

0

 

It’s hard out there for a rock star these days. And Jack White may be among the last of a dying species. Boarding House Reach is the sound of the former White Stripe struggling to sound relevant.

White’s music, either solo, or with any of his many bands and side projects, has always been steeped in the past…notably the blues…as distilled through the likes of Led Zeppelin.  And there are moments on Boarding House Reach where Jack is, indeed, in familiar territory.

Third track, Corporation, features a bone-crunching riff and big slashing guitar chords, while Respect Commander sounds like it could be the grandson of Dazed & Confused.

But it becomes clear very quickly that Jack White is looking to update his sound, to find new textures and to not be left behind.

So, while Corporation may rock, it also features a funky beat, lots of congas and a rousing call of “Who’s with me!”

Throughout the 13 songs that comprise White’s third solo album you’ll hear elements of rock, blues, country, electronica, classical, jazz and hip hop. If that sounds messy…well, it is.

Tracks such as Hypermisophoniac and Ice Station Zebra sound like studio jams that need some serious editing. The former, named after the aversion to sounds such as chewing and clicking, is wildly dissonant, with brief moments of interest, while the latter finds White rapping, quoting James Brown and reminding us that “we’re all copying God”.

Actually Jack White has quite a lot to say here.

Ezmerelda Steals The Show is a brief, spoken word piece set to music which addresses White’s hatred of cellphone use by his audience.

“Their faces to their gadgets fall south”, he recites, as the titular subject of the song looks out from the stage to declare, “You people are totally absurd”.

Meanwhile Everything You’ve Ever Learned finds Jack White the preacher exhorting, “Do you want to question everything, then think of a good question!”

While these lyrics may often sound like an old man yelling to get off his lawn, at least they make some sort of sense.

Over And Over And Over features obtuse lines about a “Sisyphean dreamer” followed by something about “my fibula and femur”. Fortunately the track itself rocks hard, resulting in one of the album’s highpoints.

Another is opening tune Connected By Love, in which White mixes his bluesy yowl with Neal Evans soulful Hammond organ and the gospel exhortations of The McCrary Sisters.

But for every Connected By Love, there is a Why Walk A Dog…a strange little rumination about owning pets that does contain the album’s best line…”What is so funny about beast above understanding?”

But humour, or actual real joy is hard to come by on Boarding House Reach. It seems Jack White has taken this musical experimentation very seriously. And like most experiments, sometimes they work and sometimes they don’t.

At least he’s not regurgitating the same songs over and over again. Seven Nation Army v.2 this is not. Let’s see where it leads from here.

Marty Duda

 

Marty Duda
Latest posts by Marty Duda (see all)