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Jack White // Lazaretto
If 2012's Blunderbuss offered us insight to the post-divorce tormented, jaded lover, Lazaretto seems – lyrically – chiefly concerned with isolation, identity, and vision.
June 16, 2014 at 9:09 AM
Jack White
Lazaretto
Third Man Records/Columbia
4.5 Stars
If 2012's Blunderbuss offered us insight to the post-divorce, tormented, jaded lover, Lazaretto seems – lyrically – chiefly concerned with isolation, identity, and vision. "I fantasize about the hospital – the army, the asylum, confinement, in prison," raps Jack White on "That Black Bat Licorice," "Any place where there's a time to clear my vision." From phoenix references in title track "Lazaretto" – a funky blues-rocks meets Rages Against The Machine infectious gutpunch of sound – to the split-engineering on "We Are Going to Friends"-esque "Want and Able," separating piano and baritone vocals to be piped in through the left channel and the guitar and tenor vocals on the right – White is his most adventurous yet. From folk-noir "I Think I Found the Culprit" to barrel-piano-tinged "Alone In My Home," to the twang-soaked "Entitlement," White leaves few territories unexplored, creating a sonic tidalwave, that upon first listen, engulfs listeners but leaves them refreshed by the seventh. – Ben Speggen