After the release of their first two albums and a five-year hiatus, The Dead Weather’s Dodge and Burn is the next step in Jack White’s search for relevancy. Despite their first two albums being noticeably unambitious and generic, their new release may quite possibly their most accomplished and focused release to date. As an entity the album delivers an almost primal quality, including super-charged guitar squeals, sexy bass-lines and howling vocals from lead singer Alison Mosshart. However, despite being firmly in rock, the album also delivers a certain slickness akin to Arctic Monkeys AM on songs such as ‘I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)’ and ‘Buzzkill(er)’.

The album begins with the anthem ‘I Feel Love (Every Million Miles)’, with Mosshart demanding of us “Why does my heartbeat feel like a speaker? Feeding back Repeater Repeater!”. Whilst it’s clear that all thought of subtlety is thrown from its hotel window like the heavy rock bands of old the song remains perhaps the strongest on the album. Whilst the lyrics may not be meaningful, Mosshart’s power and presence carries them through and draws focus on the bands balls-to-the-walls approach to the music. This is most clearly seen in ‘Rough Detective’ where we are given a slightly jilted and uncomfortable joining between White and Mosshart’s vocals, but which then forms into a myriad of high squeals, heavy guitar and White’s perhaps genuine question “What’s happening?”.

This new album may perhaps be most the bands most together and detached release to date. They have clearly tried to do some unique things on this new release, the ballad-like ending song ‘Impossible Winner’, including both piano and full orchestra being a prime example. However, the release does contain some unquestionably impressive songs.

Olivia Raine