Jack is Back

Jack White has returned to the music scene as a solo artist, and his new collection of songs is nothing short of stunning. White has led numerous bands, including The White Stripe, The Raconteurs, and most recently The Dead Weather. Every time an album comes out with Jack White's name on it, it is nothing short of stunning brilliance, and his solo effort is no different.
The new album, Blunderbuss, hits stores March. 20, but listeners have already gotten a taste with the release of the single, Love Interruption, and as of Saturday night, Jack's performance on Saturday Night Live.

For this very special blog entry, I will not be analyzing and critiquing an article as I usually do, rather I am going to critique Jack's performance and what has been heard of the new album as he returns to the music scene.

As an artisit, Jack White is about as creative as they come. He's talented, he's creative, and he's a little bit wacky. His performances and songs include all of these elements to make one interesting spectacle. The Saturday Night Live performance was no different. Jack put on his finest, old time country suit with oversized lapels and shiny shoulder and chest patches to pull it all together. He stood with a road-worn acoustic guitar like a troubador, backed by a fully female band. For his first song, he play the single, Love Interruption, and no matter how many times I've listened to it, it still amazes me. A dark picture of what love can be, and a poetically crafted vision, Love Interruption is an somber, yet angst driven anthem for the broken hearted and slightly sadistic. It's beautiful in its darkness.

For his second song, Jack played an unreleased track called Sixteen Saltines. This song goes back to his heavy, gritty rock 'n' roll roots, reminiscent of his days with The Raconteurs. But what was even more surprising than the excitement of a new Jack White song was the fact that he switched bands in between songs. He went from having a fully female band, to having a fully male band. An interesting switch, but then again it is Jack White, and whatever creative, weird thing he can do, he is going to do it. Sixteen Saltines was gritty and fast paced, and anyone who loves Jack White's former projects, will love this song.

I like the way Jack presented himself. First as a well dressed, singer-songwriter, with a fully female band, then as an angry rock star, clad in all black with a raucous male band behind him. To me it was a representation of who Jack White is as an artist. He is constantly between two musical worlds, one where he plays he beats on his guitar like he's in a backyard brawl, and the other where his instrument and his voice are his lady, soft and sweet and always by his side. These juxtaposed worlds are what make Jack White, Jack White and it's why he is so respected in modern music. He can play any kind of music, anywhere, anytime. He can take a garage sale guitar and make it howl like a vintage Gibson. Blunderbuss is sure to please any Jack White fan because of the exposure it gives into the mysterious world of Jack White.

http://www.spinner.com/2012/03/04/jack-white-snl-saturday-night-live/