Originally Published May 2, 2012
White has just released his first solo album entitled Blunderbuss. This is off the beaten path for the beloved White Stripes rocker, and it has created a ripple in the music world.
Jack White shared in an interview with Rolling Stone, “I’ve put off making records under my own name for a long time but these songs feel like they could only be presented under my name. These songs were written from scratch, had nothing to do with anyone or anything else but my own expression, my own colors on my own canvas.”
In many ways Blunderbuss is good old Jack White with another solid album, which is why I didn’t think to write a review of Jack’s album until about halfway through his song, “I’m Shakin’.” The song got me because of how different it was from the rest of the album, and most songs I’ve heard from Jack. It definitely has a different sound to it, raunchy in feel and deep in soul.
As always with Jack White, his lyrics cannot be ignored. One of his singles, “Love Interrupted,” creates such a conflicting concept that the entire time you’re thinking, “No!.. but yes!”
Blunderbuss starts out with the song, “Missing Pieces,” that I can’t think of any better way to describe other than saying it has a dorky sound to it, but in the best way possible. “Sixteen Saltines,” Jack’s other single off the album, has a bit of that dorky sound to it, but roughens up some. “Freedom at 21,” gives you a good, “I-don’t-give-a-fuck,” feel. Right after is, “Love Interrupted,” a slower and balancing switch from the previous song. It then swirls into a mourning sound with the album’s title track, “Blunderbuss,” which feels as if it would require everything to happen in slow motion. “Hypocritical Kiss,” puts some life back into the album, with a whimsical feel, while still managing to posses some angst and sadness through the piano accompaniment. “Weep Themselves to Sleep,” continues in this direction with an even more upbeat feel, continuing to hold a complicated set of emotions. Then, what is currently my favorite song on the album because of the revitalized, upbeat, uproar of old dance, rock, and soul: “I’m Shakin’.” The next song, “Trash Tongue Talker,” helps slide out of that upbeat feel that “I’m Shakin’,” brought into the classic sounding, “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy.”
I love, “I Guess I Should Go To Sleep,” for the little piano bit dispersed throughout to make sure you’re definitely not sleeping. The thing about Jack’s music, and something I’ve noticed while analyzing the album, is that it’s so hard to place some of his songs because he switches sounds so often. Even in the first few seconds of a song like, “On And On And On,” you go from thinking you’re in the deep south to chilling in a jazz club while someone mixes you a folk and Jack. and then finally the mix of both with an addition to folk and Jack himself. “Take Me With You When You Go,” has a plethora of sounds: slow, fast, deep, upbeat; it’s a good representation of the title and concludes the album splendidly.
The entire time I was writing this description I was thinking, “Just go and listen to the blasted album!” But I realized that would be rude.
Although if you haven’t listened to Blunderbuss yet, I really don’t know why you’re still reading this.
Go.
Now.
Caleb Rechten