Some Album Reviews

I have three in my backlog (and lots of new albums I want to review!). They date back a bit but oh well!

The Dead Weather - Sea Of Cowards
The second album from The Dead Weather, Jack White’s second Other Band, in just 10 months is a different beast altogether from their debut. Although White’s blues influences are ever-present, the White Stripes feel of Horehound is out, Sea of Cowards is experimental rock in a league of its own. Delicious electric guitar-driven chills, edgy lyrics and haunting chants by Kills’ singer Alison Mosshart transport you into an eerie world of White’s own creation.
****

Jack Johnson - To The Sea
The sixth instalment from Jack Johnson mercifully shows some break from the norm. After 5 albums of surf-style crooning over acoustic guitar, Johnson has finally discovered its electric sister instrument. In You And Your Heart, we find him riffing out a harsher intro than we’ve encountered before, and the verses even reveal a little rock-star posturing, although the chorus, and much of the album, is cut from the original mould.
***

The Drums - The Drums
In places strongly reminiscent of early New Order, in others featuring traces of the Beach Boys, New Yorkers The Drums’ first album reverts to old-style indie. Although the chirpy, whistle-strewn Let’s Go Surfing tempts the listener to assume them to be beach-pop, elsewhere, in It Will All End In Tears, there is real anguish. Nevertheless the whiny and less-than-outstanding vocals by Jonathan Pierce have the tendency to grate in places.
****