IN REVIEW: Jack White - "Boarding House Reach"
Then, Elephant happened; after years of honing skills, playing shows and building buzz, the mainstream fever broke. Bolstered by eternal stadium anthem Seven Nation Army, The White Stripes' fourth album was an artistic and commercial breakthrough like no indie-minded garage blues band could have perhaps ever hoped for. Its stacked tracklist took White's restrictive style as far as it could possibly go, and it certainly felt as though there was more lurking under its surface, more layers just dying to be added on if only those pesky restrictions would relax a bit. When they did, though, it resulted in The White Stripes' most divisive album. 2005's Get Behind Me Satan featured more instrumentation and more percussion, and saw the band's sound reach outside their comfort zone. It turned some fans off, but a majority agreed that things were moving in a more interesting direction even if it wasn't as raw and visceral as what came before. When Icky Thump (the album that would be the swan song for Jack and Meg's recording career together) followed two years later, it brought even more layers; but, there was a playfulness and charm at the album's heart that made even its most outer-reaching experiments palpable.
Between those last two White Stripes releases and Jack's work with The Dead Weather (and, to a lesser extent, The Raconteurs), it was becoming clearer and clearer that Jack White was building toward a future free of restrictions; it seemed as though every whim was pursued and, though the results were often spotty, it was again that confidence and charm that made the journey worthwhile from a fan's perspective. This had, after all, been the common thread connecting all of his projects; the man had natural talent and a deep appreciation for the art, so even his wildest detours came from a place of passion and respect for the craft.
So, when Jack White decided to finally put out a solo album, there were any number of directions he could have taken it. What ended up being released as Blunderbuss, then, was just a little bit underwhelming because it seemed like the Jack White album people expected; more or less, a continuation of The White Stripes' exploration into retro styles, but not as loud and with a wider array of instrumentation and genres. It still had great songs and that expected Jack White charm but, as varied as it was, it wasn't unreasonable to have expected it to go a little further.
On 2014's Lazaretto, there were a few attempts to break new ground, but there were also a few moments that stripped away some of the charm we'd grown accustomed to. For perhaps the first time, there were hints that Jack wasn't having as much fun or tackling the music with as much reverence; it was a slighter album than Blunderbuss, and didn't have as many memorable tunes. Upon repeat listens, it became more and more apparent that there was a growing divide in quality, in that some songs revealed themselves to be real growers while some revealed themselves to be real groaners. One got the sense that Jack was struggling to find a way to expand, that there were places he wanted to go but somehow found himself to simply be trapped in a box again; a bigger box than he put himself in with The White Stripes, but a box nonetheless. He had achieved his artistic freedom, but maybe that freedom was weighed down by a perceived responsibility to operate within the expectations of others.
For better or for worse, that box is obliterated by Boarding House Reach.
Perhaps the key to understanding the how/what/why of Jack White's third solo record is in the biggest restriction he had insisted upon throughout his career that is now lifted; for the first time, Jack used Pro Tools on one of his albums. With the jump from analog to digital comes the open floodgates of possibility in terms of multitracking and sound manipulation, and Boarding House Reach is absolutely full of both. There's traditional instrumentation but also a heavy reliance on synths and other assorted, computer-assisted sounds on this record, from the warbling album-opening synth notes of Connected By Love onward.
Funk plays a major role here as well, and White's performances often rely on groove; there are extended instrumental passages throughout that would have given the feel of loose jam sessions were they recorded using his previous techniques. With so much sound piled on top and with so few inhibitions at work here, though, these songs can't be confined by genre, mood or convention. Boarding House Reach is more or less the sound of Jack White clearing his mental cache; all the offbeat, oddball ideas he's had given a forum at last thanks to the conveniences of digital recording.
On paper, then, this is everything I've been hoping for, Jack White finally unburdened and chasing the muse wherever it takes him. Some of my favourite records of all time are the ones artists have made in an attempt to break free of expectation; Faith No More's Angel Dust, Radiohead's Kid A, Liars' They Were Wrong So We Drowned to name a few. Boarding House Reach arguably goes further than any of those, so I can't help but conjure up thoughts of a "gonzo masterpiece" when I think about what Jack White has so brazenly released.
As it turns out, though, the idea of Boarding House Reach far outweighs its execution. Thrilling as the thought of a full-blown experimental Jack White album may be, the resulting album is so messy and overstuffed with ideas that it can't possibly sustain itself. While the album starts off pleasantly enough with the subdued and only slightly warped lead single Connected By Love, things soon veer off into some pretty wild tangents, both musically and lyrically. Why Walk a Dog? pairs a slow electronic waltz with an admonishment of pet owners that may or may not have any kind of deeper meaning. Corporation is the first one to bring the funk, and is a mostly instrumental tune that gets pretty repetitive and brings in some heavily processed wordless vocals before Jack gives a small, vague monologue about, um, starting a corporation. And then, he starts with a series of high pitched squeals. Sustained, piercing, seconds-long squeals.
From there, things start to get really weird. Abulia and Akrasia is a mercifully short interlude featuring a ridiculous spoken word performance from Aussie bluesman C.W. Stoneking and overwrought old-time cinematic theme. Then, there's Hypermisophoniac, so named for the condition of being negatively triggered by annoying noises and, naturally, featuring incessant use of annoying noises (and the repeated refrain of "ain't nowhere to run when you're robbin' a bank", because nobody knows). That's followed by Ice Station Zebra, which reveals itself over repeated listens as one of the album's highlights in spite of Jack's clumsy attempts at rapping. Yes, you read that right, and it doesn't say so much about Ice Station Zebra as it does about Boarding House Reach.
The clear highlight on the album is Over and Over and Over, a raucous and groovy rocker that finds room for all manner of weird vocal manipulations and extra noise but is, at its core, a very good song. That core shines through and sets it apart from the rest; tellingly, its origins go back to failed attempts at recording the song with The White Stripes and The Raconteurs. Still, it couldn't have sounded like this back then, what with all the pitch shifted background vocals, fiery Tom Morello-like solo and aggressive bongo breakdown (you know, there are a lot of bongos on this record). Nonetheless, this is one experiment that undoubtedly works.
From there, we get a glitchy futuristic commercial turned into jam band manifesto in Everything You've Ever Learned, which finds Jack using both his best radio voice and his screamiest megaphone voice. Respect Commander is a more successful experiment; if you can get past its embarrassingly eighties intro (which literally sounds like it was performed at least partially on a Casio Tone Bank), you're rewarded with a slow, powerful oddball blues number that settles into a comfortable groove before increasing in intensity. It features the most soulful and explosive solo on the album, a tasty treat for enduring all those synth hits and high pitched noises.
The rest of the album is equal parts forgettably dull and remarkably awful. Ezmerelda Steals the Show has White playing half the riff from Everybody Hurts while delivering a dual-toned spoken word piece (yes, more spoken word) about an elderly woman who apparently "steals the show" by walking up to a microphone and addressing a crowd that hasn't been paying enough attention by saying "you people are totally absurd". I suppose that makes us, the listeners, "totally absurd" because we clearly haven't been paying attention; we just don't get the brilliance of it all because we were looking at our phones! That's immediately followed by Get in the Mind Shaft, which starts out with still more spoken-word (a monologue about Jack learning to play piano and create songs on a piano in an abandoned house) which inexplicably morphs into a funky, piano-free instrumental that's punctuated by vocals so aggressively tinkered with that they're barely recognizable. It makes Thom Yorke's warped vocals from Kid A sound positively quaint by comparison.
Then, we conclude with back-to-back ballads of a more traditional variety (and when I say more traditional, keep in mind what I'm comparing them to); What's Done Is Done seems like an old honky tonk tune, except it's got electric drums and an organ solo followed by a synth solo all adding up to what sounds like a Blunderbuss B-side that Jack decided to spruce up by trying to work in sounds that don't exactly belong. It's followed by Humoresque, a Dvorak-via-Al Capone classical/jazz composition that Jack White bought at an auction and tried to perform faithfully here. So as to say, this noisy, freaky, absolutely insane record ends with synth/C&W and soft jazz. Okay.
After about a dozen listens, I expected to get more out of this record and, admittedly, there are parts I like more now than I did a week ago. However, I've also grown to like certain elements much less. When the initial shock wore off and I took a step back, a couple of things really struck me. First, with such a broad array of sounds and ideas there is a distinct lack of actual songs on this album; between all the spoken word stuff, the instrumental stuff and the segués, I'm counting seven full songs, and there are only a few of those that have stuck with me. The second and, perhaps, most grievous disappointment, is that Jack White charm; on Boarding House Reach, it's all but gone. Where Jack White's albums used to be confident, warm and inviting, Boarding House Reach is directionless, cold and impenetrable. That passion and reverence for music may still be there, but it certainly isn't employed for the majority of this record, the soul and feeling replaced with the nagging need to play with all of these new toys.
Still, I do have to credit Jack White on his moxy; as a major label recording artist and one of the last high profile rock stars alive, it takes serious stones to risk it all for an avant-garde electro-funk art piece. It may have debuted at #1 on Billboard, but make no mistake; #1 debuts on Billboard aren't that big a deal anymore, and this album is most definitely not commercial or radio friendly. It's a gnarled mess of ideas that sometimes works, sometimes doesn't and sometimes makes you want to plug your ears and run away screaming. That said, it's also possible that this is the purest translation from Jack's thoughts to Jack's music we've ever gotten. Maybe this is where we were headed all along, and embracing Pro Tools just got us here quicker than we would have otherwise, if at all.
Maybe so, but one thing's for sure: Boarding House Reach stands to be the most divisive album Jack White has released to date or perhaps ever will again. It may take years or decades to reach a public consensus, and my review could look a lot different given more time and future albums as context. Unfortunately, I'm reviewing this right now, and right now I'm applauding Jack White's courage in handing this album over to the mainstream but hoping that he's gotten all of his wild impulses out of his system for a while and will put some heart and charm back into whatever comes next.
March 23, 2018 • Third Man/Columbia
Highlights Ice Station Zebra • Over and Over and Over • Respect Commander
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