April 23rd, 2012 
Josh Hammond 
Artist: Jack White
Album: Blunderbuss
Label: Third Man Records
Genre: Indie Rock
There are times when I’m listening to Jack White my heart simply swoons. Goosebumps jump from my skin and butterflies jumble my stomach. At times, when the mood strikes, his music is better than spooning on the couch after a twelve dollar bottle of wine. With his scrabble board vocabulary and intellectual subject matter, his casual conversation sometimes feels more like a lecture from a college professor than a calming singer-songwriter.
However, like any good relationship, there are also times when I listen to Jack White that my head starts to ache. His brilliance will drift, shifting from intelligence to gibberish. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not implying that White is anywhere near tinfoil hat territory, but there are time when his lyrics mirror the feedback I receive when conversing with the neighbor homeless population after they’ve spent the night hitting the mouthwash a little too hard.
This doesn’t change the fact that White is a wizard with his instruments. The solos littering Blunderbuss border on being bigger than The Beatles (bigger, not better assholes). Hell, “Missing Pieces” the album’s opener, offers up epic spotlights for not only guitar, but vintage organ as well. The song exemplifies White’s unique writing style, kicking open the door with one sound then shifting endlessly to the next. Jumping from huge distorted guitar to country slide, White covers more ground in 13 tracks than most artists manage in a discography.
While the album overall manages to excel as a completely work, several standalone tracks jump out, grabbing the listener with a white-knuckle grip.
The first of these tracks is the first single, “Love Interruption.” With beautifully blended vocals, provided by the lovely Ruby Amanfu, White’s lyrics are the heavy focus of in this song. Compiled of the realistic and tragic ways in which love is dark and demented instead of bubbly and storybook, the song is the album’s anti-ballad. With beautiful reed instruments serving as additional vocals, the balance of the song’s layers is as flawless as one can compose. White tweaks and fiddles with these balances throughout the tune, yanking all the instruments out of the earphones, leaving only the vocals in existence. At its simplest, this song manages to hold more depth than most novels.
This trend continues into the following and title track, “Blunderbuss.” Taking a more country approach to songwriting, slide guitars, piano and upright bass swirl around White’s storytelling. The straightforward, singer-songwriter approach to the song works surprisingly well, considering how far of a stretch it is from the normal wheelhouse of White’s sound. For example, take a quick listen to “Freedom at 21” and tell me it doesn’t sound like “Seven Nation Army.” There is no denying that White’s signature can also be a touch recycled. However, I think given the benefit of the doubt Jack White is allowed to sound like Jack White. There is really no need to get all Fogerty v. Fantasy here.
Overall, my impression of the album is simple; it is absolutely worth a handful of listens. This is the type of album that is best through headphones. White shifts his sounds around throughout the album, leaving the listener on a treasure hunt of hidden noises. The album also is sure to grow on you. With each listen, new discoveries pop up out nowhere. These textures develop new layers, building new emotions and connection to the songs. In the end however, my opinion will matter very little. Jack White is the type of man who will find his way into your heart on his own terms.
SCORE: 8/10
Review written by: Josh Hammond (Twitter)
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