TEST SPIN | Jack White – Boarding House Reach

To prepare myself to listen to Jack White’s album Boarding House Reach that was released last Friday, I did a few things. First, I listened to some of his popular songs from his previous band, The White Stripes, such as “Seven Nation Army” and “We’re Going To Be Friends.” Those songs had a familiar comfort, as I recognized their tunes. My next step was to listen to “Servings and Portions from my Boarding House Reach,” a collage of the songs from his upcoming album. I was struck by the stark contrast between the predictable and rhythmic music of The White Stripes and the erratic, almost manic energy of White’s personal collage. Just like a photo collage has pictures messily taped together with scribbles of dates and places, the album collage felt like different parts of each song were just taped together… but somehow it kind of worked.