JACK WHITE // "BOARDING HOUSE REACH" - ALBUM REVIEW
JACK WHITE RETURNS WITH HIS BRILLANT THIRD STUDIO ALBUM 'BOARDING HOUSE REACH'
JACK WHITE - "BOARDING HOUSE REACH" - RELEASED FRIDAY 23RD MARCH 2018
★★★★★★★★☆☆ (8/10)
Jack White has long been renowned for his absurdist approach to rock and roll. Since transcending from garage-rock guitar hero in former bands ‘The White Stripes’ and ‘The Raconteurs’, White has embarked on an eccentric solo career which has helped shake any notion of the man being a blues-rock purist. Tinges of country, R&B, hip-hop, jazz, electronica and folk music were all present in his two previous solo efforts, Blunderbuss and Lazaretto. However, on ‘Boarding House Reach, this is taken to new heights. Very little in this album is understated, creating a zany amalgam of styles, genres, compositions and sonic experiences. In short, it’s exceedingly odd, but would Jack White fans expect anything less? And to what extent does it work in his favour?
Boarding House Reach begins with previously released promotional single “Connected by Love” serving as the LP’s gateway drug to madness. The organ laced gospel vibe has been explored by White before along with the acoustic country-style bridge. It’s an okay track, but its very much the calm before the storm. This is continued on ‘Why Walk a Dog?”: a sparse arrangement with lyrics driven towards the mistreatment of domesticated animals. It’s an admirable sentiment although it comes off as a bit wacky and insincere in an album that also has a track named “Ice Station Zebra”. Things start to become interesting during ‘Corporation’, a largely instrumental jam reminiscent of Frank Zappa due to its vintage and progressive sound. This is pushed against electronic clap samples, an enduring bongo solo and section dominated by random screaming. “Yeah, I'm thinking about starting a corporation Who's with me? Nowadays, that's how you get adulation”. White’s political sentiments are to be admired but is given a back seat to the absurd instrumentation.
The presence of spoken word present on the album is executed reasonably well and is refreshing. Australian bluesman C.W. Stoneking recites an amusing poem written by White which essentially spends a full minute and half asking someone for a cup of tea against thematic western music. After breaking ground with the listener, the album loses a large amount of sanity on ‘Hypermisophoniac’, a track about the fear of sound made using samples of White’s children’s toys, robotic vocals and random whirring sounds. At this point it’s impressive to see White deal with so many moving parts whilst maintaining a solid forward motion and sense continuity. Inspiration from jazz and art rock have obviously helped him keep his wild ideas cohesive. The manic ‘Ice Station Zebra’ continues upon this thought with it’s swagger and constant change of moods and instrumentation which essentially sees it to be through composed. Shackles of common sound and structure (verse, chorus, verse, chorus etc…) are thrown out the window. White admirably has no desire to conform to this on the two previously mentioned, largely instrumental tracks
“Over and Over and Over” resurrects the classic ‘White Stripes’ fuzzed out guitar sound with a modern twist. Operatic close harmony vocals attack the track in a hideously beautiful way. Lyrical content on this track hits well with a more introspective view than all the previous tracks: “I think, therefore I die. Anxiety and I, rolling down a mountain (over and over)” Trading bongo, guitar and theremin solos lead the track away from being anything less than completely mental. “Everything You’ve Ever Learned” is half a dystopian sci-fi nightmare and half a primal call to “question everything”. It’s is as intense as it is mad.
Possibly the most successful sonic experiment, ‘Respect Commander’ thrives on its clever use of production, samples and electronic sounds. The track is Frankenstein’d together using different moving parts over a Led Zeppelin-esque bass line. It shouldn’t work but it really hits the mark. It’s also at this point worth praising White as an (anti) guitar hero on this album. Most of the effort is used to play guitar solos that sound anything but a guitar solo. The pitch shift on ‘Respect Commander’ reaches high pitches that may near enough be only be able to be heard by dogs. White’s uniquely ferocious guitar-playing style proposes him to be one of the last surviving guitar heroes. The Daft Punk-esque “Get in the Mind Shaft” is where the LP begins to slip with it’s cheesy spoken word intro concerning White’s discovery of music with robotic vocals and less interesting experimentation. ‘What’s done is Done’ is a ‘Lazaretto’ country ballad style throwback which serves as an okay-ish duet with folk singer Esther Rose. The last track ‘Humoresque’, is interestingly a poem written by legendary gangster Al Capone arranged over Dvorak’s classic piano cycle of the same name. This is perhaps the most sincere moment on the album and one of the greatest successes.
Jack White has succeeded on pushing out his boundaries on ‘Boarding House Reach’, at this point in his career its interesting to see him disregard trends and expectations in favour of getting weird. As with any risk and experimentation, some products hit the mark (Respect Commander, Hypermisophoniac) and some unfortunately miss (Why Walk a Dog?, Get in the Mind Shaft). However, the design of this album is exceptionally impressive. It’s complexity and absurdity aren’t at the expenditure of making it interesting and fun, which is what Boarding House Reach is.
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