Album Review: Jack White – No Name

Jack White returns to a simpler songwriting approach with captivating results

As guitar music has long lost its grip on the music industry, fewer artists today can lay claim to the art, personality, and status of rock stardom once embodied by icons such as Jimi Hendrix and Robert Plant. Despite this growing generational gap, artists such as Jack White retains all of the swagger of ’70s guitarists with a modern essence through well-crafted infectious hooks and eccentric songwriting style. On his sixth solo album, White leans away from the experimentation with progressive, Hip-Hop, and folk that were central in his past independent albums and thus returns to the familiar blending of punk and blues that pushed his former project, The White Stripes to stardom. White’s revisitation to an arguably more familiar sound has resulted in No Name, in which White presents his audience 43 minutes of gritty blues painted with punk charisma. 

While painless in theory, crafting a balance between the technicality and complexity of blues with the abrasiveness and simplicity of punk is no small feat, but White seamlessly weaves the two genres together. Opening on “Old Scratch Blues,” White demonstrates this sonic harmony through delivering a simple, bluesy guitar lick before the rest of the band layers on a heavier rhythm section besides White’s brash, punk-influenced vocals. As other tracks such as “Bless Yourself” retain a similar air in toeing the line between styles, White alternatively leans more heavily in either direction. Traces of ’60s and ’70s blues-based rock and roll are felt on tracks such as “It’s Rough On Rats(If You’re Asking)” in which White nods to a Led Zeppelin-esque groove and a ripping guitar solo while featuring White’s slide guitar style that propelled The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” to an arena anthem in “Underground.” In turn, White’s garage rock and punk roots flare within the power chords and direct vocal delivery in “What’s The Rumpus” and stripped back, percussive “Missionary.” Not only does No Name’s merging of influences lead to an innovative approach in songwriting, but allow the album to maintain a sense of diversity and completeness in regard to tempo, chord progression and melodies — elements that lead to the success of legendary artist in the past and are cementing White’s legacy within Rock and Roll today.