The Dead Weather: Dodge and Burn Review

Artist: The Dead Weather
Album: Dodge and Burn
Label: Third Man Records
Release Date: September 25, 2015
Website: http://www.thedeadweather.com/

By Troy Burke
Music Reviewer

It’s been five years since we’ve heard from Jack White’s supergroup, The Dead Weather. Their latest album Dodge and Burn sounds like they never left. This twelve track album sounds just as raw as the first Dead Weather recordings.

The fuzzed-out guitar greets you at the album’s first track “I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)” and it never goes away but it’s a very welcome addition to the album. What would a Jack White project be without tons of fuzz on the guitar anyways?

Once the album gets deeper in past the singles you can really hear the more experimental tracks. “Three Dollar Hat” has some very interesting synth work going on in the first minute of the song. At first, the synth sounds very structured and in time with the bass, but once White’s vocals come in all the structure is gone and it becomes indecipherable noise. The bass line is really what stands out here since it sounds like it belongs on a Tribe Called Quest album. Even the lyrics sound like they belong in a hip hop album. White poetically describes a struggle between two lovers and jealousy in the typical blues attitude he’s had since the White Stripes. In a style akin to blues legend R.L. Burnside, White describes himself as that “Bad man named Jackie Lee/Shootin’ everybody down with a .33.”

Jack White, being the lead singer and drummer, clearly has a huge influence on the Dead Weather’s sound. However, in tracks like “Open Up” you can hear singer, and member of The Kills, Alison Mosshart’s Sonic Youth influence. Throughout the track there are the familiar Jack White whoops and garage rock riffs we’ve been hearing since the White Stripes but the guitar in the breakdowns is where you can really hear the Sonic Youth feedback-filled drone style.

It’s been awhile since the world has seen a Dead Weather album, but the wait was definitely worth it. Dodge and Burn isn’t just another Jack White album. It’s clear that the band is working cohesively when writing songs and it really shows with this album. If the next album takes another five years to make, I wouldn’t mind waiting if it’s as good as Dodge and Burn.