It’s not always a given that an artist or musician will include a perfectly gift-wrapped thesis in their art, but on Jack White’s third solo record and 14th record released in the last two decades — Boarding House Reach — he does just that.
On the sixth track, “Ice Zebra Station,” Jack eloquently sings, “Everyone creating is a member of the family / Passing down genes and ideas in harmony / The players and the cynics might be thinking it’s odd / But if you rewind the tape, we’re all copying God.” And so reveals his desire to experiment with and rearrange what’s been done before, thus showing what happens when a rock star gets into free-form jazz. Sort of.
The 42-year-old Detroit native and Nashville-based musician known for saving vinyl, color-coordinating stage outfits and album packaging, and banning cellphones at his gigs, is back with his first record in four years. After two wildly successful solo releases — 2012’s Blunderbuss and 2014’s Lazaretto — Jack decided to lay all his cards on the table by asking himself one simple question: “How far can I go musically until this no longer sounds like a melody, verse, or stanza, but simply a cacophony of sounds clanging against one another?” The answer, which might scare many listeners, is pretty far — and that makes it all the more exciting.
As if trying to warn everyone of his strange forthcoming album, Jack released not one single, but two in early January 2018. “Connected by Love,” an obvious first single, featured classic soulful and bluesy rock ‘n’ roll alongside church organs and gospel singers while “Respect Commander” was more focused on challenging traditional melodies with bizarre pedal loops, free-form guitar, and jam-band qualities. With the rare double-release, Jack revealed that Boarding House was more than we expected; it’s an experimental triumph unlike anything he’s done before.
“Corporation,” the second single and record highlight, perfectly shows the fruits of that experimental labor with funky rhythms and jamming guitars before spiraling into a chorus of voices, asking, “Who’s with me?” The dizzying effects bring the song’s composition to another level for several minutes before breaking down with Jack’s electric call to arms as he sings, “Yeah, I’m thinkin’ about starting a corporation / Who’s with me?”
The aforementioned “Ice Zebra Station” goes even further with pounding piano keys, groovy basslines, and riffs that spin out of control behind Jack’s quick talk-singing. As he repeats, “Copying God, copying God,” elements of various music genres bleed into each other to form something new. It’s incredible to hear how Jack, the biggest proponent of rock music, pulls from elsewhere to create depth previously unseen.
Experiments don’t stop with other musical styles, but even include Jack’s own family. Speaking to a Los Angeles-based radio station earlier this week, Jack revealed that his son’s fidget cube, which includes little buttons, switches, and do-dads to play with a la fidget spinners, inspired the sounds and noises in the bizarre song “Hypermisophoniac.” The title refers to the specific affliction of hating certain sounds and noises so much that it drives people insane.
In the interview, Jack remarked, “[I] thought, ‘What if we took annoying sounds with a recording, annoying musical sounds, and tried to make something beautiful out of them?’” The track opens with Jack clicking and fiddling with the cube before ICU beeps, distorted vocal samples, and a drill join the mess. Without knowing the intention behind it all, it’s not difficult to hear the song as mere noise — though it’s almost shocking to admit how enjoyable that makes it. “Hypermisophoniac” challenges you with difficult musical concepts, but dares you to not think too hard about it. The clicks make noise, which produce sound and somehow music, so don’t be afraid to dance along with it.
Just as much as Boarding House plays with the concept of sound, it challenges traditional singing even more by featuring two fully spoken-word tracks and several instances of a speaking voice opening a song. Australian singer-songwriter C.W. Stoneking carefully reads Jack’s words of “inexorable pleasantry” and “solemn refutation” in “Abulia and Akrasia,” while Jack himself paints a beautiful picture of the Art Of Performance in “Ezmerelda Steals the Show.” Never missing a moment for biting, self-aware commentary, Jack explains the tragedy of Ezmerelda, an “old lady” and “barefooted fairy” standing before a crowd of ungrateful fools — “their faces to their gadgets fall south,” he remarks. Quite on the nose there.
“Everything You’ve Ever Learned” opens with a voice purporting sponsorship and consumerism before Jack interjects with his own capitalistic concerns of “Do you want everything? / Then you can have everything / But what is everything? / (Worth?).” The spoken word isn’t always used as means to preach, but occasionally invites listeners to dig deeper into Jack’s own twisted mind.
“Get in the Mind Shaft” opens with several spoken word verses that vary depending whether or not you’re listening to the digital or vinyl version of the track. This gimmick is unsurprising considering the source, and while it is just that – a gimmick – it doesn’t take away too much from the experience of traveling through the singer’s spiraling psyche as he sings, “Can you hear me now? / Get in the mind shaft / […] Deep inside me now.”
For those a bit timid in the face of change, Boarding House still has enough to satiate naysayers seeking classic Jack White material. “Over and Over and Over,” allegedly written as a White Stripes song years ago, gets repurposed with lively and distorted guitar licks and even the occasional bongo alongside Meg White-esque, garage-band drums. The soulful duet “What’s Done Is Done” likewise recalls the emotional resonance and beauty of “White Moon” as country singer Esther Rose lets her sweet voice intertwine with Jack’s accompanied by soft piano and church organs. “Why Walk A Dog?” is the record’s only uninteresting track; it’s a strange misstep on an album where everything else is so intentional and thoughtful, but does provide a breath amidst the more overwhelming moments.
The record’s final track, “Humoresque,” is a unique closer in that it’s a cover discovered under unusual circumstances. As confirmed by Rolling Stone earlier this month, Jack purchased a rare piece of sheet music transcribed by notorious gangster Al Capone while in Alcatraz. The Chicago Tribune confirms that Jack paid $18,750 at auction for the strange item and his cover of the beautiful music is somehow worth it. Originally composed by the Czech songwriter Antonín Leopold Dvořák with lyrics written by Howard Johnson, the song harbors none of the sinister qualities associated with Capone, but further expands how far this album is willing to stretch.
The wild ride of Boarding House Reach includes hard jams, soft piano ballads, arena-filling guitar solos, spoken word jaunts, and obscure, free-form jazz-like riffs; sometimes a literal barrage of sounds flood speakers and provide just a peek inside a man with a runaway mind. Despite a few heavy-handed moments and preachy statements, Jack White proves that he’s still an interesting artist.
If you deeply prescribe to the gospel that is Jack White and have already bought into his musical religion, it won’t be difficult to continue your worship. He traverses new musical landscapes on Boarding House Reach that will surprise many fans but will likely gain new ones — which isn’t exactly a bad thing. Jack White can’t really sell out when he’s already selling himself to his fans for such a high price. And this experiment paid off because I’m totally bought in.
Boarding House Reach Rating: 9/10
Highlights: “Corporation,” “Connected By Love,” “Ice Station Zebra,” “Over and Over and Over”
