Icky Thump

Description

Recorded in three weeks in Nashville, the sound of Icky Thump is raw, gritty, and well-oiled. Fans can rest assured, this new album does not continue the attempt made with Get Behind Me Satan (2005) to pass off bladders as lanterns or pianos as guitars. Some tracks are firmly in line with the big hits of the White Stripes (You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told), Bone Broke). The white touch is definitely there: everything is heavily tinged with blues and country. But the album leans more towards the hard rock of the 60s and 70s. A tribute to the era of solos with its hysterical guitar laments and grandiloquent keyboard melodies. An excess that flirts with technical demonstration but never descends into ridicule. In contrast, Meg's drumming is rather discreet, and her voice is almost inaudible throughout the album, except on the brilliant Rag and Bone. Icky Thump is a Harley road trip, delightfully hillbilly, from Nashville to Mexico, where you can hear the mariachis on Conquest. An album perhaps too immoderate for some (it also allows for youthful ballads or Celtic whims). But it keeps us on the edge of our seats from the first note to the last, proving that until proven otherwise, the White Stripes remain the driving force of rock. OpenMag