WHITE STRIPES - Get Behind Me Satan

Jack "The White Stripe" just can't sit still. Together with his sister/ex-wife (it's not that important, after all) Meg, he's brought back to Detroit the minimalist, savage spirit of bands like Stooges and MC5. With a simple, basic guitar, a drum kit and two microphones, the White Stripes have rediscovered the old, primordial, raw spirit of blues played at full volume.

From the Hendrix-esque riffs of "White Stripes" (1999) to the roots/hard rock of "White Blood Cells" (2001) and on to the commercial breakthrough of "Elephant" (2003), the American duo travel a musical path that brings them ever closer to a woozy, pounding cross between Led Zeppelin and John Spencer Blues Explosion.

By this point the White Stripes have found the winning formula: scoring huge commercial success without bowing to radio's rules, essentially keeping their artistic and musical integrity intact. Jack "The White Stripe" could sleep easy and coast on his unmistakable garage-rock, lately even lent to dancefloor pulses. It would, however, be rather sad to be condemned to an eternal repeat of "Seven Nation Army" and "The Hardest Button To Button", and luckily, Jack "The White Stripe" knows it.

Between a couple of films and a brawl, just a couple of weeks were enough to record the new album: "Get Behind Me Satan". And it really is a fitting title, since the tempting demon of easy success has been promptly beaten back with electric guitar blows.

Of course, you have to look past the single that accompanied the album. "Blue Orchid", in fact, sounds like a new "Seven Nation Army", slightly spiked with dance tones as if it had been produced by Scissor Sisters. Meg pounds away on her hammering drums, while Jack's Robert Plant-style falsetto rides over a handful of basic guitar chords. Granted, it really is a great song, but you'll already be thinking of this record as just another reheated leftover.

Instead, you only need to listen to the psychedelic delirium of "The Nurse" to understand that, this time, the White Stripes have changed register. A woozy nursery rhyme that sounds like it's straight out of a black-and-white noir film, "The Nurse" takes off thanks to a dazed marimba and drumming that borders on the synthetic.

It seems strange, but it's true: Jack "The White Stripe" has grown tired of his red-and-white guitar's obsessive riffs and now, instead, prefers a drunken piano that sounds as if it were lifted straight from Tom Waits.

Cornerstones of this new sonic path, which considerably widens the repertoire Jack White's creature had accustomed us to while delivering definitive proof of his talent, are the tantalizing swagger of "My Doorbell," which sounds like it stepped out of a modern, acid-soaked "Physical Graffiti," with its formidable piano showcase and an irresistible melody, and the bittersweet ballad "Forever For Her (Is Over For Me)," an updated echo of Neil Young's Seventies work. The White Stripes toy playfully between past and present with a thoroughly enjoyable dose of irony, as shown by the saloon-style oddity of "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely)."

Of course, the blues' original DNA is always lurking just around the corner. "Red Rain" returns (with considerable bite, no less) to explore the most painful side of the "devil's music," while "Instinct Blues" speaks for itself, simply through its title.

Yet the heart of "Get Behind Me Satan" is decidedly cheerful and lighthearted. While he has fun tormenting the piano, she sets aside her minimal, obsessive Moe Tucker-style drumming (with the exception of the driving "The Denial Twist") for a while to explore Latin sounds built on percussion, congas and maracas. The White Stripes, then, seem to be having the time of their lives, regardless of anyone who once called them a seminal band or the new rock sensation.

"Little Ghost" is a silly little nursery rhyme with a guitar that sounds like a tiny ukulele (Jack's stint with Loretta Lynn clearly left its mark), while "Take, Take, Take" sounds like a lost T.Rex session.

Welcome to Jack and Meg's new, off-kilter, surreal party!

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09/02/2010