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THE DEAD WEATHER
HOREHOUND
THIRD MAN RECORDS
There’s no question that Jack White is a talented guitar player. His work with both The White Stripes and The Raconteurs has been solid, a fact that continues with his new super group The Dead Weather on their debut album “Horehound”. However there has always been something about his playing and songwriting that’s seemed off and with this new record what it is has finally become clear to me.
While Jack White plays with a tremendous amount of feeling there is no depth to what he does so the music falls just short of being special. It’s not that the music on Horehound isn’t good it’s more that if you pull back the shiny curtain of their dirty blues sound there’s nothing really there.
The Dead Weather sport a great deal of talent including Alison Mosshart (The Kills, Discount), Dean Fertita (Queens Of The Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (The Raconteurs). When that talent comes together the music they make should transcend genre and become something much greater than the sum of its parts. Sadly the album never achieves that distinction instead sounding exactly like what you’d expect if Jack White jammed with a bunch of like-minded musicians.
Nothing on Horehound rings true, it all seems like forced “dirty blues” with some extra weird chords and rhythms thrown in. Mosshart has a solid voice but when she attempts this badass whiskey soaked blues voice it’s the sonic equivalent of a little girl playing dress up. The pop element involved with The Kills serves what she does much better than this record.
The rest of the band is suitable enough but again feels manufactured and often boring. I kept waiting for Horehound to actually begin, to kick start into something that didn’t sound like re-recorded left over Raconteurs tracks. Midway through I realized that wasn’t going to happen and I was stuck with something that sounded like Sonic Youth if they’d decided to play Lightnin’ Hopkins covers.
I know you’re thinking that idea sounds cool, trust me it’s not. I think a large part of the records flat sound is that White himself doesn’t stretch his skills any further than he ever does. There might be slight variations to what he’s done in his other bands but it’s still very much the same stuff White always plays. According to White the entire band was in on writing the album but from what I’ve heard I really doubt it.
There are some bright spots on the record like Delta-Blues-meets-Velvet-Underground sounding “I Cut Like A Buffalo”, or the instrumental “3 Birds” but that’s about it. If I had to pick one word to describe Horehound it would be forced, a word that also fits the band itself. Perhaps it’s their too-cool-for-everybody vibe or the desperate attempt Jack White has to be seen as some “true” blues player.
Whatever it is I spent most of the album wanting to yell at them “RELAX!! Let the songs come on their own, stop working so hard”. If you’re a die hard fan of what Jack White does than Horehound might be something you’d enjoy, if not then I’d say skip it. Go out and find some of the blues classics, you’ll thank me.
