Review: The Dead Weather – Sea Of Cowards
I didn’t listen! I should’ve known!
Okay, maybe that’s a little over-dramatic. But with The Dead Weather’s second outing, Sea of Cowards (opens in iTunes), a pattern is forming with bands involving Jack White. For the Raconteurs, for example, their first album was a somewhat pedestrian take on their songwriter-driven sound. The second album blew that open and unleashed a mighty, towering beheamoth of blues riffs, story songs and unapologetic muscle. Even the leap from the White Stripes eponymous album (itself not to be sneezed at) to De Stijl was impossible to foresee. So it should be no surprise that The Dead Weather have evolved so quickly and so well compared to their debut, but it struck me by surprise all the same.
The first Dead Weather album was a bit formless and unmemorable. Even the Bob Dylan cover kind of just melded into their swampy blues sound. Sea of Cowards is also pretty formless, but the difference is that it uses this to a definite advantage. No, I still can’t really pick out one song as a true highlight compared to others, but everything is amped up a bit, and the band’s dynamics are a bit tighter. They were always a pretty unique band -- combing a dirty, electric sound with a staggering brand of sexuality. Now their former weaknesses work as strengths.
The band just plays so well off each other; any other band could or would be satisfied with these results. The guitars are jagged and abrasive in the right places. White as drummer is still not a notable element, but he fits into their chemistry and never feels unlike the source of their direction. To their credit, things never sound derivative of the bands that Voltron’d on this one (White Stripes/Raconteurs/Queens of the Stone Age/The Kills members make up the band). At the same time, this album feels less like a side project than the one before it.
Most surprisingly, it’s almost tempting to say that Alison Mossheart came into her own here. Truth is, she came into her own on The Kills’ work. But compared to Horehound, she’s electric,the center of attention. The kind of rough blues they did on their debut is now made a sexy kind of dangerous thanks to her voice, which is bent and filtered through effects and her own efforts to become a kind of ghastly siren song, whether on the cackling laughs of “i’m Mad” or the dangerous, seductive swagger of “The Difference Between Us.”
As far as side projects go, The Dead Weather are something else on Sea Of Cowards. They’ve beaten their respective bands’ worst moments -- and their DNA consists of some damned talented bands. Maybe they wouldn’t be as notable if not for their frontwoman and drummer, but for now it’s safe to be thankful something happened to give them some shine.
The Dead Weather
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Jere is not from Chicago. Nor is he from Parts Unknown. But he sure loves to hear things. Follow him on Twitter! Email this Author | All posts by Jere
