aaamusic | On 29, Apr 2012

Y’know, if this album was only “alright”, I would be incensed with Jack White. The man is talented enough to be a major creative force in three consecutive rock bands, the major creative force in one of them (Can you guess which one?), to have acted in major Hollywood films, to own his own vanity record label, to have married a supermodel, to be one of the most in demand producers in modern rock, and yet only now, 15 years after the formation of The White Stripes, he’s made a record he can call his own. Of course it’s magnificent, but this could easily smack of self-indulgence if it was anything less, he didn’t even book the studio time with the intention of recording his songs, he only did so because The RZA of the Wu-Tang Clan couldn’t show up for his allotted slot. I digress, however, if this album wasn’t excellent, or even as thrillingly unique as it is within his canon, it would have been conclusive proof the Jack White had stopped caring. You’ll be pleased to hear, however, that this is not the case, Blunderbuss isn’t just as good as anything he’s ever done, it’s also so unique, so indescribably him, that it would be an incredible achievement from anyone, not least the man who wrote Seven Nation Army.
However, many folk will most likely not quite get it. This is not an album of White Stripes, Dead Weather and Raconteurs cut offs, this is the moment where Jack gets to cut lose and show off the kind of music that he obsesses over. Blunderbuss swings from screechy, distorted rock, to 50’s rock ‘n roll, to old style country, to classic crooner pop, each with Jack’s signature stamp making this more than just a revival of dead genres. Take lead single Love Interruption, in anyone’s hands it would be an agreeable slice of jazzy blues folk, but with Jack’s turn of phrase (I want Love to / change my friends to enemies / show me how it’s all my fault) turns into something much darker and much, much more satisfying. Jack himself is on fine form, not sounding this raw vocally since White Blood Cells but his main strength has always been getting emotional moments out of himself. You can set your watch by them, they’re always the moments when the instruments slowly fade out, and Jack hisses out the most explicitly personal couplet of the song before everything launches back in, but it never gets old, especially on the likes of the lilting title track and the paranoid waltz of I Guess I Should Go To Sleep.
If I was to be as objective as I can about this album I would say it can get somewhat overly obtuse in a way I’m not quite intelligent enough to put my finger on, on first listen it seems difficult to love but it will bring you back for further listening, and once this album is under your skin it will stay there for an extremely long time. What will bring this album there is the fact that this is by quite a large margin the most explicitly personal thing he’s ever done, Get Behind Me Satan was laden with metaphor and double meanings while this, while still being well told stories at heart, leave less to the imagination. So while it might take a while give it the chance to spellbind you as it most definitely will, you will not regret it.

★★★★★

Will Howard