Full-on and high-octane, there’s a frantic buzz-guitar frenzy, urgency and energy to White’s new LP, with songs about difficulty of relationships, but also a me-against-the-world sense of as if the world might indeed end when the night ends. That flavour comes from the off in opener Taking Me Back, from the point of view of an estranged father, as well as Fear of the Dawn. This is White in proper rock mode, with an element and influence of mentor Prince about it, but there’s also no shortage of musically innovative sounds and hybrid styles, with the catchy hip-hop oddness of Hi-De-Ho featuring Q-Tip, while Eosophobia, which also has a reprise version later in the album, decorated with intricate fast-fingered proggy guitar. What’s The Trick? Is another powerful track which asks, how “to make love stick?”, and the cleverly, fast, self-questioning “I'm using appropriate compression for/ My inappropriate confessions for / Someone I guess who might need it more / I don't even know what I am doing it for.” White may be wrestling with personal issues in these songs, but he’s also just married fellow Detroit musician Olivia Jean on stage during a homecoming live show. So will this draw him out of the darkness of this fire-y frenzy of an album? It’s only the first of two that will be released this year, so it’s fascinating to see how the second will contrast. Out on Third Man Records.
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