[rating=9.00]
Jack White famously sang on White Blood Cells “Well you’re in your little room / And you’re working on something good /But if it’s really good / You’re gonna need a bigger room”. This can be applied directly to his career, starting out restrained by his personal set of rules for The White Stripes then slowly expanding his palette with each subsequent band (The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather) and solo release. Now on Boarding House Reach, he isn’t playing to just a bigger room, he is playing to the universe. This is outer space music, a soundtrack for exploring the cosmos, dealing with love and confusion; it sheds labels, expectations and limitations.
For someone who has been so calculated regarding his public image and sounds, this album is akin to tossing off the shackles. There are clearly moments when things feel recorded on a whim and not fully flushed out but that experimentation and demo formation is part of the excitement, adding a new layer to White’s recording that is vibrantly alive.
The best efforts take a chunky guitar phrase, pair it with dance laden drumming and electronic keyboards which blend into the surroundings, purring to life. “Over and Over and Over” nails this ethos with a bone crunching riff, spontaneous yelps and dance ready rock beats tweaking White’s already arena shaking formula gloriously while “Corporation” uses extended funky drumming around a head bobbing guitar line, popping keyboards and vocals, calling out for support while infecting your ass to shake along for the entire groove laden ride. The dramatic swell of opener “Connected by Love” is prodigious as it pulsates with electronic keys seamlessly flowing into Whites blazing guitar work before the double bass drumming, pianos and hip hop lyrics lead the cool as a glacier “Ice Station Zebra”.
The song “Respect Commander” embodies all of White’s vision on this release. It is loose, beginning with an actual restart, before marrying Herbie Hancock early 80’s detached robot funk to a dripping blues rock closing. Menacing via a swaggering style which shows off the scintillating guitar playing while carrying the song to new dimensions, far from formulaic, it screams freedom and uniqueness as it fades out. Another effort which explodes in the ears is “Everything You’ve Ever Learned” but instead of spreading out lengthwise, it stays brief. White as guru challenges over digital and organic sounds before a heavy metal outro leaves fire in its wake.
Fanatics of White’s primitive blues styles will probably not jump onboard, but there is so much more to explore here they should, however the experimental aspect naturally means not all tracks are dynamite. “Hypermisophoniac” goes full robot but the EKG beeps become distracting, “Why Walk a Dog?” is a lush dark pulsing meditation on animals/humans that feels more half written lyrically than insightful while “Get In The Mind Shaft” ramps up the 80’s synths to an absurd level without really traveling much terrain after a promising, reflective start. On the other hand, the brief poetic offerings like the string accentuated “Abulia and Akrasia” or the twinkling “Ezmerelda Steals the Show” act as wonderful divergent breaks from the bombastic jam laden songs.
Closing with two more on the money “traditional” tunes finds White duet with Esther Rose on “What’s Done is Done”, expertly messing with gospel musical phrasing around current day isolation/violent lyrics before the stunningly gorgeous jazz tinged piano lead “Humoresque” finishes this immensely wide ranging offering. Transitional in nature, exhilarating in random execution Jack White’s Boarding House Reach is as deadly as a shotgun; blasting scattershot and hitting everything in its sights.
