I was walking through a typical megastore music section the other day when I stumbled upon The Raconteurs new LP Consoler of the Lonely.
I wasn’t aware the Jack White side-project had a new release in the works, so it was a pleasant surprise for this fan of the group’s debut album Broken Boy Soldiers. It turned out the album’s release on March 25 took place only one week after Consoler was originally announced, a tactic to prevent consumer exposure to critical reviews before listeners could purchase the record.
With this effort, The Raconteurs hit a hard-blues sound that’s as strong as a White Stripes punk-rocker, so I’m not sure what they’re so bent up over.
Consoler takes off with the go-go “Salute Your Solution,” a three-chord rocker that would work in one of those dancing-silhouette iPod commercials.
Band co-leaders White and Brendan Benson tell in the hook, “I got what I got all to spite you/I give what I give just to spite you,” leading into some aggressively messy fretting from White.
As the album’s old-time photo depiction would suggest, The Raconteurs deliver plenty of folk-rock gems on Consoler, including the country fiddlin’ “Old Enough” and the western throwback “The Switch and The Spur.”
The former gets into the act with some heavy steel-pedal picking, showing that these Raconteurs can do the authentic rock thing pretty well. “Top Yourself” is a stripped-down Allman Brothers slide jam, with Jack White lending his talent on a little banjo.
The heavy slide riff chugs on under White name-calling “such a little girl like a spinny-top momma, but she spinnin’ outta control/take sleeping with a snake like you to rip upon my soul.”
While the blues-rock sound is the group’s staple, The Raconteurs are interesting because they can do these folksy cuts and jam into them hard.
“Many Shades of Black” gets a little soulful thanks to Benson’s lead on this track that would have ripped if there were guitars in place of horns.
Other punk rockers appear in the form of “Five on the Five” and “Attention,” two cuts brooding with crunchy over-distortion and manic fretting from White and Benson. The latter of which is paced by Jack Lawrence’s tight bass line.
On “Rich Kid Blues” White channels his inner Dennis DeYoung, crooning over a mellow acoustic intro that drives into the synthesizer-assisted ballad.
The cut boasts some rocking organ to keep that authentic Styx feel, too.
On many of Consoler’s tracks, it’s hard to differentiate between White and Benson’s vocals - the two sound like they’ve been singing together forever.
The album’s fitting conclusion has White spinning a Petty-esque tale about a boy making a stand against his mother’s boyfriend.
In the end, little Billy slays the boyfriend to his mother’s horror, and White puts a humorous capper on the rolling narrative.
The sound on Consolers of the Lonely is authentic hard-rock, and it’s one The Raconteurs do very well. While Jack and Brendan aren’t re-inventing anything here, they don’t really have to.
I’m just as content hearing this heavy-authentic sound as White and Benson are playing homage to hard rock heroes of the past. Unlike the group’s second release, there’s no surprise there.

Contact Jack at
JCChandl3168@winona.edu