Collegiate Times

Jack White has been synonymous with rock ‘n’ roll for what seems like forever. He rose to prominence with The White Stripes as part of the garage rock revival of the 2000s. After experiencing great success with The White Stripes, he went on to form other projects such as The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather.

However, it seemed a little curious that after being a mainstay in the music scene for so long, White had never released a solo album. 

He finally ventured out on his own releasing “Blunderbuss” today, and it sounds exactly like someone would expect a Jack White record to sound.

Fans of this artist will thoroughly enjoy the record. “Blunderbuss” may even convert new listeners into fans and push them to explore White’s other work.

The songs on the record draw inspiration from all the past work he has done. “Sixteen Saltines” is led be a blistering guitar riff that sounds pretty similar to one featured on The White Stripes’ “Hardest Button to Button.” The influence from his other projects can easily be seen on other tracks as well.

“Blunderbuss” is somewhat of a weird journey throughout a range of genres from garage rock, to blues, to southern rock and more. White whimsically bounces around from genre to genre between each track.

“Freedom At 21” starts out with a powerful drumbeat before White comes in with a catchy guitar riff. “Hip (Eponymous) Poor Boy” sounds like a ragtime piano groove entwined with a bit of country.

“Weep Themselves To Sleep” features heavy guitar over wandering piano, which seem to conflict with each other at first, but somehow blend together to make a great song. The album really traverses many different musical areas.

The lyrics on the album revolve heavily around relationships. On “Love Interruption” White sings, “I want love / to roll me over slowly / stick a knife inside me / and twist it all around.”

These kinds of lyrics are found throughout the album where White discusses his complaints about past relationships. An example of this can be heard in “Hypocritical Kiss” where he sings, “I want names of the people that we know that are fallin’ for this / You would sell your own mother out / And then betray your dead brother with another hypocritical kiss.”

The ability of White to work solely by himself ultimately pays off, as he doesn’t put any restrictions on the sound the album should stick to. White discusses this on “On and On and On” when he sings, “The people around me won’t let me become what I need to, they want me the same / I look at myself and I want to just cover my eyes and give myself a new name.” He doesn’t reinvent his name on “Blunderbuss,” but just makes a loud statement of it and the music he is capable of making.

The whole album feels like it was thrown together without much of an afterthought. Nothing feels calculated and this is what keeps the record refreshing. 

It is impossible to guess the sound of the next song. White’s solo debut, “Blunderbuss,” is a good record that combines all of his previous work and styles to make a diverse album of garage and blues-rock. 

A version of this article appeared in the Apr 24 issue of the Collegiate Times.