Jack White - Blunderbuss
- By Jon Bye -
- Apr 24, 2012
Despite a seemingly omnipresence in the realms of cool and dazzling array of side projects where he is invariably the star, Jack White’s solo material has been up to now a comparably minute amount of work. Other than couple of songs here and there for film soundtracks, the former White Stripe, current Dead Weather/Raconteur group member seems to prefer the company of others.
The decision to go it alone on 'Blunderbuss' is therefore a mystery but largely inconsequential. People who have fallen for White’s idiosyncratic style across his other musical incarnations won’t be in for any sort of massive shock. Rock boogie ‘I’m Shaking’ may as well be a White Stripes track with better drumming. Heavier number ‘Sixteen Saltines’ equally could fit in to a set list at just about any point of White’s career and would have been considered brilliant in any of them.
On the whole the direct of Blunderbuss is more towards the blues-folk side of White’s musical spectrum, as debut single ‘Love Interruption’ denotes. With this particular song demonstrates the prowess that White possesses for lyrics as well as music and is happily addictive because of this. In turn ‘Hypocritical Kiss’ in the meantime captures the flipside – warm familiar chord changes lusciously laid across piano and acoustic guitar. Anyone hoping for a heavily electrified album may be disappointed by this, but the sheer quality of the song writing will likely draw forgiveness.
Before the celebrations start though, it’s worth noting that this pot of gold does hold some lead too. ‘Missing Pieces’ for example has all the elements of a Jack White classic but lacks the knock-out punch. More honky-tonk blues numbers such as ‘On and On and On’ won’t be to everyone’s tastes either; a little too bar room for this usual stadium performer.
Overall, there’s something for everyone who has adoration for White in any of his various guises, from indie rockers to blues aficionados. This perhaps is the slight downfall of Blunderbuss in that no one wholly gets what they want. In general though there’s a lot to enjoy here and it’s a great case study of the multi-faceted creature White is. Not quite the stellar offering that some would have hoped for from White’s first full solo outing, but more than good enough to entertain the many who admire his work.
By Jon Bye. Tweets at @jonbyehome
This guest blog complies to Virgin.com terms & conditions.
