For his third solo album, Jack White, the mad scientist of rock, got out of his comfort zone. Mind you, his comfort zone would make a lot of musicians go insane.
White recorded in New York and Los Angeles for the first time and sought out musicians he hadn't worked with before-some he hadn't ever even met. Then he listened to what happened.
"Boarding House Reach" is the result and it's thrilling stuff, but more than a little disorienting. White's trademark yowl and fuzzy guitar are firmly in place but then, suddenly, there might be a conga drum solo. Or a synth riff. Or a face-melting distorted chorus. You quickly get the sense that this is what the inside of Jack White's head sounds like.
The 13-track Frankenstein-like album doesn't always work, but when it does, it's like a jolt of electricity, mixing hip-hop, gospel, blues, country and hard rock. "Forgive me and save me from myself," White warns us in one lyric.