Sparks of energy, echoic thumps of distortion and reverb, rock revolutionist Jack White is back. All safe and sound in his baby blue.
Not for one confining to the principle of his former White Stripes, White’s solo stuff was also seen as reinventing the wheel somewhat. While his 2012’s Blunderbuss reached new ground but still teetered on the rock imperialisms of Stripes but 2018’s Boarding House Reach was a dystopian experiment, we were keen to see where White would go for future projects.
We got to see a first glimpse of White post-lockdown with Taking Me Back in November 2021. A raucous hit-smash equivalent to the best of Lazaretto’s self-titled, it was loud, manic and everything exciting when it came to Jack White.
This heralded the release of “Fear of the Dawn” in April 2022, a brazen and brash rock album decisive in its journey and willing to go into the abyss of darkness – a venture not too unfamiliar for White throughout the years!
The White Raven, Hi-De-Ho, Into The Twilight, That Was Then, This is Now and What’s The Trick? – all feature the arty, experimental instincts of White as a creator but evidently did not shy too far away from its roasting blues chestnuts and hard high-stepper rock chorals.
For me, White is an anomaly amongst the artistry world. A free-thinker and a creative, his work – no matter how experimental it is – I seem to just fall in love with. Even to the Middle-Eastern influence to the ramblings on Hi-De-Ho is unmatched and falls perfectly in place next to Eosophobia, a track that can be mistook for its place within a Stripes album.
I tell you something else. As I’ve listened to his new work – and you trawl back through his back-catalogue as you normally do – there doesn’t seem to be a weak spot or voice among his four studio albums. Each earning a place in musical history in their own right through soundscapes, concepts and musical ideas. White may be one of my favourites. Fantastic stuff.
Such an enjoyable listen through and through, certainly recommended. You can imagine my eclectic glee when I found that the album is in fact a two-parter with a reprised acoustic album of Entering Heaven Alive set to be released in July this year..!
mvm. 
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