Review: Jack White – Lazaretto

Jack White

Lazaretto

Third Man Records

Street: 06.10

Jack White = The White Stripes + The Dead Weather – punk + folk/’60s blues

Ever since the release of Blunderbuss in 2012, Jack White’s solo career has been very unpredictable and almost a major step away from everything else he was doing in his various bands. That’s reflected greatly in Lazaretto, where White’s style has morphed to be a pseudo country/blues/garage rock theme that sounds far more enthralling than anything he did in the previous decade.

White’s chaotic style is finely tuned with an array of musicians who give his riffs and lyrics more depth and meaning than if they were being cranked out of 100 Peavey amps in radio-style repetition. The fact that these songs were all based off of teenager writings he found in his attic is a nice addition to the story of the album’s metamorphosis, but ultimately, the selling point is the musicianship, which has escalated White into a league few others can play in. –Gavin Sheehan