|
Style: Alternative rock; compare to White Stripes, The Raconteurs
Top tracks: "I'm Shakin'," "Sixteen Saltines," "Blunderbuss"
While ear-twisting six-string tones and riffs make appearances, Blunderbuss isn't a "Jack White guitar album" by any stretch. Instead his solo debut is powered by atypical instrumentation, most notably from the keyboard family—but the cool cousins (e.g., Rhodes, slightly out-of-tune piano). The album casts a few more shadows than light thanks to some violent lyrical jaunts ("Love Interruption," "Freedom at 21," "Trash Tongue Talker"), but there's whimsy, too. The best is "I'm Shakin'," a 1960s doo-wop ditty that White reignites with a spare, guttural groove augmenting witty Samson and Delilah lyrical references. But don't get too excited: In the blistering "Sixteen Saltines," White insists that "the Lord's joke is a boat in a sea of sadness."
Copyright © 2012 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.
Annual & Monthly subscriptions available.
- Print & Digital Issues of CT magazine
- Complete access to every article on ChristianityToday.com
- Unlimited access to 65+ years of CT’s online archives
- Member-only special issues
- Learn more
Read These Next
- TrendingAmerican Christians Should Stand with Israel under AttackWhile we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
- From the MagazineI Hated ‘Church People.’ But I Knew I Needed Them.As I attended my second funeral in three weeks, two Christians showed me a kindness I couldn’t explain.
- Editor's PickShoes Stay On for Maundy ThursdayFew Protestant traditions continue the footwashing that Jesus did at the Last Supper. Some want a revival of the practice.