There is a certain balance a musician must strike between subtlety and courage when attempting to make an experimental album. On Jack White’s new album Boarding House Reach, released March 23, White misses the mark in producing an enjoyable combination of these two elements. While the album features several exciting highlights, it is clear from the heavy-handed instrumentation and muddied sound of many of the songs that good intentions for new territory were slightly lost in a haze of over-enthusiasm.
Ironically, the songs meant to be the most interesting and new are the most boring. What could have been a short fusion of punk and jazz influences in the song “Corporation” becomes a drawn-out mess of heavy percussion and shallow lyrics. What had the potential to be an ambitious and philosophical techno track in the song “Get In The Mind Shaft” is undermined by the monotonous intro.
Lack of creative or interesting lyricism also hurts the album’s quality. Many of the songs’ lyrics are made up of one hook and some mandatory nonsensical verses. This formula is seen most clearly in the tracks “Hypermisophoniac” and “Everything You’ve Ever Learned.” In the former, some variation of the chorus is repeated seven times throughout the ten-stanza song. The cliché lyrics in “Everything You’ve Ever Learned,” such as the verse “Do you want everything? Then you can have everything. What is everything?” come off as tired.
Artists should not feel the need to stay within their comfort zones, but, on Boarding House Reach, the forced sound of many of the more experimental tracks make White seem insecure in his ambition. Even the spoken word track “Ezmeralda Steals The Show” lacks emotion and depth.
Despite occasional clumsy experimentations, the album does have several redeeming qualities. The beginning and ending of the album are the most impressive, and they reflect the change in mood over the course of the album’s story. “Connected By Love,” the leading track on the album, was one of two singles released January 10 as a precursor to the full-length album.
It features impassioned vocals and an interesting blend of gospel, blues and electronic music. The song has an inspirational tone matched by the themes in its video, also released January 10. A similarly lively track embodying the mood of the album’s first half can be seen in “Corporation.” While the instrumentals are drawn out and the lyrics are repetitive, its defiant feeling gives off a punk vibe, balanced with jazzy and expressive instrumentation.
Perhaps the most impressive part of the album is the last two songs, both evoking moods completely different from that of the bouncy first few tracks and the hazy experimental excursions that fill the album’s middle section. The penultimate track “What’s Done Is Done” lacks intricate lyrics, but the gorgeous harmonies and the cozy but exciting blend of country tones with a synthetic beat make it one of the album’s standouts. It is the stripped back, fragile sound that White achieves in the last track, “Humoresque,” that provokes the most emotion. In a way, the track is the most bold on the album: not because it is flashy and complex, but because of the intense vulnerability White shows, a departure from his traditional garage-rock sound.
Other highlights of the album include White’s few trips to the past with the garage-rock and blues sound that brought him to fame during the first few years of the White Stripes’ career and his odes to past musical acts. The most successful combination of these comes on “Respect Commander,” which was released as a single alongside “Connected By Love” in January. The musical nods to Duran Duran’s “Rio” in the intro bring a funky feel to the song, which makes the bluesy second half of the track all the more exciting and unexpected.
Another bold funk track comes in the form of “Ice Station Zebra.” Though the track sounds like a thinly veiled Beastie Boys impression, the lyrics are whimsical, and it is perhaps the one moment of the record when White is not taking himself so seriously. “Over and Over and Over” would probably be the track that most closely fits White’s traditional sound, featuring signature searing guitars and a hard rock edge. It is made more complex by the choir fills and the Nightmare Before Christmas-esque refrains.
Overall, there is no denying that White is onto something with this new album. He is a talented instrumentalist and lyricist, and the highlights of this mixed bag of an album are interesting and impressive. Sometimes, though, his enthusiasm to experiment is too strong, and his attempts to produce something exciting lead to something muddled and forced. If he continues to refine his new sound, through more subtle instrumentation and attention to lyrics, his next attempt will be far more impactful.
