The White Stripes
Jack and Meg White have always conformed to a molded, meticulous aesthetic. They have never been seen wearing anything other than some combination of red, white, or black. They adhere to a palette that draws only from country and, most especially, the blues. They have never addressed their relationship as anything other than the familial. Upon each release, from their self-titled debut to their breakout hit White Blood Cells, the tenets of the image grew more stringent, until 2003's Elephant, when the aesthetic morphed into storied tradition, and the rules became claustrophobic. That album was recorded solely on equipment that was built before 1963, and brandished the "No computers were used in the writing, recording, mixing, mastering" idiom as a rallying cry. Elephant was a well-deserved critical and commercial success for the Stripes, but in order for them to continue making music, let alone succeeding in it, something needed to give. On Get Behind Me Satan, both critics and fans will happily find that something has. And though we won't be seeing a Powerbook on stage anytime soon, the record does show the duo experimenting with new instruments, new sounds and, thankfully, new ideas.
Finally, there is room to breathe.
As Get Behind Me Satan begins, with the raucous lead single "Blue Orchid," it's blatant that this record is an altogether different beast. The heavily distorted, squelching guitar line is flanked by Meg's propulsive, pounding rhythm, and though Jack's wavering falsetto soars to the upper registers, his delivery of accusatory lines like "You got a reaction / You got a reaction, didn't you?" and "How dare you” is no less incensed. This song finds itself in the company of an impressive string of singles written by Jack, and, given its marked departure from the Stripes' sound of the past, stands up quite nicely. On "The Nurse," which follows, the duo eschew that sound to an even greater degree, and what results is quite possibly their most experimental song to date. The simple melody is composed almost entirely of (the much discussed) marimba, a xylophone-like instrument primarily used in Africa and Central America, and provides a necessary, understated contrast to the thunderous, seizure-inducing axe stabs, and Jack's haunting, multi-tracked repetition of the creeping chorus, "No I'm never, no I'm never, no I'm never gonna let you down now…" Ironically, this song is a bit of a let down, but they do earn points for trying.
The piano is another instrument that
figures prominently in the fray. Though it does play an integral role in
the back catalogue, it has never been used so freely as it is here.
Songs like "My Doorbell" and "The Denial Twist" are veritable ragtime
stomps that pounce, featuring rapid-fire sing/speak vocals from Jack, the
latter of which (if V2 does what it should, that is) will most assuredly
score the band one of their biggest singles. Jack also turns to the
ivories for a few fragile tunes. "Forever for Her (Is Over for Me)" and
"I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" are exploratory, plaintive
melodies that lay the foundation for Jack's jagged, twitchy cooing, and
surprisingly heartfelt lyrics. In the former he sings, "Forever, just the
word that she said that means never / To be with another together…" and
later, "And forever for her is over for me" in the resigned tone of lost
love. In the latter, he cries, "Well I miss my mother / And I miss being
her son / As crazy as I was I / Guess I wasn't much of one," in a painful,
dejected, display of isolation. These songs, along with the record's
title, go a long way to suggest that Mr. White is beginning to grow up and
leave the wiles of misdirected youth in his wake. That perhaps helps explain the lack of guitar pomp and braggadocio on this record, as compared the duo's oeuvre. There are only two songs on Get Behind Me Satan where electric guitar is put to the fore. The first, "Instinct Blues," is a quiet/loud -- you guessed it -- blues number that most closely resembles "Ball and Biscuit" off of Elephant, but without that song's fatty tangents. The second, "Red Rain," is one of the loudest songs that band has done to date, and will stand confidently next to songs like "Let's Shake Hands," "Canon," "Death Letter," and "I Think I Smell a Rat" in the White Stripes' how-on-earth-can-so-much-fucking-noise-be-coming-from-only-two-people, raging live sets.
A solid and confident record, Get Behind Me Satan is by no means out of place next to the White Stripes' already intimidating discography. It finds, to varying results, Jack and Meg stepping out from the strictures of their image and diving into something new.
I like the sound of that.
-- Phil DePaul, 06/13/05 |
