(Sony)

The other other White band

The omnipotent Jack White can now add another title to his ever-growing curriculum vitae, which so far includes singer/songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, actor and borderline neo-luddite. He is now a franchise operator, a recognizable brand name that can develop a business (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, one could almost argue The Von Bondies) and practically move on and allow them to be self-sufficient. Ok, maybe not The White Stripes, because without him it’s just a buxom woman with a pair of sticks. I digress … touring with The Raconteurs and pond-crossing duo The Kills in 2008, White drafted Alison Mosshart to sing a few parts while he recovered from bronchitis. Sensing creative chemistry – and that their voices sound similar, if you squint your ears – the pair picked up QOTSA’s Dean Fertita and The Raconteurs’ Jack Lawrence and another Detroit swamp supergroup was formed. With White (unexpectedly on drums) looking a bit more like Sweeney Todd than his original incarnation as a peppermint fiasco and later stints evoking, as Noel Gallagher so eloquently put it, ‘Zorro with donuts’, the darker undertones of Horehound are immediately apparent. Not that it’s serial killer gloom, but their are enough trench-deep drum grooves, stabs of guitar and soulful wails from Mosshart to accompany any maniacal cackle. The one-two punch of Treat Me Like Your Mother and Rocking Horse is worth the listen on its own, one with a greasy organ riff the bursts into a double-time freak out, the other drowning in classic surf guitar tremolo. How many extremely satisfying records with other bands can come out before The White Stripes are relegated to side-project status?

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MITCH ALEXANDER

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