Bleep

Four years on from Lazaretto, we have ourselves a new Jack White LP. While White has moved to position himself as keeper of keys for the hallowed halls of rock ‘n’ roll, Boarding House Reach actually displays an impressive range of influences and styles. The fried-circuit Americana that has so long been the crutch White has lent on recedes into the background here, more of a guiding principle than a sonic aesthetic. Instead, White adopts an everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to both instrumentation and songwriting. Plastic soul, funk, operatic pop, blues-rock, electro and more rear their heads across these fourteen tracks, and White generally bellows blood-and-thunder over the top of them. His air for the theatrical brings to mind what Queen might be doing today.