Jack White – Frozen Charlotte

Review by

Tom Parmiter

Tom is a UK-based music writer who first contributed to No Ripcord in 2018.

Frozen Charlotte, the seventh studio album by Jack White, is a tightly crafted showcase of rock and roll, one that appears to find its writer in a contemplative, not altogether positive mood about the society he inhabits. Quietly announced only a month prior in a pre-sale on his website, this collection isn’t likely to disappoint fans of his raw and emotive rock sound, with a clutch of tracks right out of the gate setting out a stall of rich guitar tones, devilish propulsive riffs, and meaty rhythms.

None more so than the gloriously titled “Derocho Demonico,” featuring a twinned guitar and keyboard riff not a million miles away in effect from “Nobody’s Fault But Mine” by Led Zeppelin. Hypnotic guitar and keyboard solo sections pick up where the stompy riff leaves off, with much fun to be had here as you’d suspect. “There’s Nobody There” continues in this vein, drums dropping in on the offbeat, all swaggering sound and meaty riff at the centre of proceedings. On the drumming in particular, the playing is tight and purposeful, with Patrick Keeler providing heft, subtlety, and everything in between and Daru Jones continuing this quality on “Nobody Knows.”

Frozen Charlotte really kicks into gear with another clutch of songs curiously placed mid-record. The highlight of the album is probably the one-two punch of “Dollar Bill” and “I Can’t Believe What I’m Hearing.” The former has a highly enjoyable chain of riffs, as White makes the most of these parts over two and three-quarters of a minute—and probably the best melodic and vocal hooks that feature. The latter keeps this momentum going, as chanted verse lyrics drive into a chorus with a highly enjoyable wide mix blend of lead and backing vocals and a melody that almost exists in a Josh Homme wheelhouse. Again, White and his band get everything done within three minutes. The quality of the arrangements in general is a real strength; only perhaps on “Raising The Grain” could there be more of what is a promising chorus.

Elsewhere, a sense of a songwriter perhaps troubled by the social climate around him seems evident in various lyrics. In “All Alone Again,” White repeats a verse of “to find a needle in a haystack, well it’s pretty easy, you just burn down the haystack and then you’ll find what you need, there ain't no obstacles that are stronger than greed.” Open to interpretation, of course, but a link can certainly be drawn to the bellicose, braggadocio behaviour of current world leaders. The themes of isolation are then extended with closing tracks “Making Contact” and particularly “Neighbors Blues,” which have our narrator describing neighbours as having “nothing good to say, neighbors never have anything to say, always got some kind of opinion brewing, always playing games I don’t want to play.” It feels like a pointed way to end the album, the accompanying music playing with loud-soft dynamics, another earthy guitar solo dispatched mid-run.

Frozen Charlotte combines high-quality rock and roll songwriting with contemplative, in places borderline ominous lyrics, creating a febrile atmosphere throughout thirteen tracks that are rewarded by repeat listens; a fine entry to the canon of one of analogue music’s flag bearers.

Frozen Charlotte is out now via Third Man Records.