The Weather is alive

ALBUM REVIEW

by Shardae Jobson

(released on May 11, 2010 in the U.S.)

The Dead Weather is the best rock band in America right now, and while founder Jack White already lives a comfortable life as one of limited modern day musical geniuses, this band should be bigger than they are. Their first outing Horehound definitely had some of the greatest cuts in rock from the recent decade that's ended ("Treat Me Like Your Mother"--fantastic). The fearlessly titled Sea of Cowards is honorable and true to the rock and roll magnetism of the 1970s ("Blue Blood Blues", "Gasoline"), accented with the adroit confidence expected of today's most talented of bands (heard expertly on "I'm Mad"). Their influences are clear without superfluous cheesy odes to the iconic albums that helped to shape Sea of Cowards from the inside out so many years later.

As the growling lead vocalist (and fellow guitarist) of The Dead Weather, to say that Allison Mosshart is indeed the heart of the band's greatness would be an understatement. She doesn't add a feminine touch to the band, she adds an enigmatic, eminent quality to the lyrics she sings that go hand in hand with her Leigh Lezark "Princess Coldstare" demeanor that is more fascinating than alienating. Mosshart and White are great together, and just like her (terrific) work with James Hince of The Kills, she always sounds in defiance towards the voice of her male counterpart--but like Hince, White welcomes the challenge. She continues to be the rock patron goddess of music in 2010.

Unlike Horehound, Sea of Cowards is seemingly less constructed which in return makes way for their sophomore album to have a more fluid connection from one song to the next than the debut. Interestingly, each individual's dexterity, including Dean Fertita (of Queens of the Stone Age) and Jack Lawrence (of The Raconteurs) is grandly spotlighted on Cowards, as especially showcased on "Hustle and Cuss".

The Difference Between Us" is brilliant with its "I'm not the way that you found me" tranquil beginnings, and "Die by the Drop" (the first single) is furiously more defining than whiny as classic rock should be. It is the most boss record on the album. "I Can't Hear You" is snarky, with a puzzling, muffled Mosshart who sounds more fed up and submissive than authoritative which is a noticeable change from a majority of the band's past and present discography.

It is a wonder on the album exactly which cowards the band used as inspiration, as the music reveals their stoic sympathy that is more easily expressed through their impulsive nature as storytellers. The most salient feature of Cowards is that maintained in every song are certain words or sentences that White and Mosshart repeat, and not just for melody purposes, but for sending a message of the overall theme of all eleven tracks essentially being karma.

The finale continues the motif in the particularly obtrusive "Old Mary" with its repeated lyrics of "now on to the moment of your last breath" against a highly ominous beat. If this album was released back in 1971, ol' "Mary" could have been the background music for the aberrant tunnel scene of the four criminals in the film adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.

Sea of Cowards is not as angry as Horehound, but is instead slyer in its presentation of confrontation. The Dead Weather are sincere to making rock music that is both shrewd and lively. "I wanna leave a trace" are the second best of the album's effective lyrics, from "Blue Blood Blues", and the band certainly will, as they've created (already) the rock album of the year. Sea of Cowards is nary of shortcomings.

THE BEST: "Blue Blood Blues", "The Differences Between Us", "Die By the Drop", "I Can't Hear You", "Jawbreaker", "Old Mary"