Jack White - Fear Of The Dawn (LP)

Fear Of The Dawn is the fourth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White's Third Man Studio throughout 2021, mastered by Third Man Mastering, pressed to vinyl at Third Man Pressing, and released by Third Man Records.

Brooklyn Vegan praised the album's lead track, "Taking Me Back", as "bashing, high-octane rock" and Paste called it "a return to White's sweet spot."

Born and raised in Detroit as the youngest of 10 siblings, Jack White's utilitarian approach filters through all of his work, from self-producing his own music to the Third Man empire he founded (which currently includes a pressing plant, a record label, a photo lab, a lounge/bar, and more), his upholstery and various other art and design pursuits, and anything else that crosses his desk. Over a quarter century into his professional musical career, White's ability to weave relevant, compelling, and poignant artistry into his music leaves him unparalleled.

A 12-time GRAMMY® Award-winner and 36-time nominee, all three of White's acclaimed solo albums - 2012's RIAA gold certified solo debut, Blunderbuss, 2014's Lazaretto, and 2018's Boarding House Reach - debuted at #1 on the SoundScan/Billboard 200 along with a variety of other charts. Among his myriad international honors, White's long run of career GRAMMY® awards and nominations saw Blunderbuss earning five nods over two years, including Album Of The Year, Best Rock Album, Best Rock Song (for "Freedom At 21"), Best Rock Performance, and Best Music Video (the latter two honoring the single, "I'm Shakin"). Lazaretto proved equally popular with GRAMMY® voters, scoring a nomination as Best Alternative Music Album, while its title track received the 2015 GRAMMY® Award for Best Rock Performance as well an additional nod as Best Rock Song. Praised by NME as "wild, mysterious and unlike anything else around...a full, lush sounding thing packed with personality and life," Boarding House Reach proved among White's most unique works, topping a variety of charts in the US and Canada while drawing applause around the world. "The spirit of freaky free-play is thrilling and refreshing, a worthy end unto itself," wrote Rolling Stone. "Like nearly all of White's work, it manages to feel fresh, original, and still deeply rooted in history."

Fear of the Dawn is a cyberpunk stew: part Ministry-style industrial aggression, part hip-hop trap beat swagger, part space age bluesman riffing.

White has delivered his best release since 2012's Blunderbuss, and one of the most consistently exciting albums in his 25-year-career.

Jack White is unmistakable in his sound. And this album has plenty it. The opening track Taking Me Back and the subsequent title track Fear Of The Dawn are filled with plenty of his signature fat wet fuzz octaves, whappy thumps, creamy reverbs, huge riffage, struggling squeally solos. It's everywhere on this album and no one does this better because no one else can...It's a fantastic album and the best work I've heard from him in years. Keep in mind that it covers a lot of ground to see how far it can go in a short period of time, as is standard with Jack White, and you'll enjoy it.

Acoustic guitars and the occasional piano can be heard on the margins, yet they're buried underneath gnarled, noisy guitars that are flattened, processed, and used as weapons. White speeds and slows his voice along with his six-string, his rhythms stutter and strut, melodies are used as much for texture as they are for hooks. The focus isn't on a song, per se, as much is it is on mood, namely a roiling, consuming paranoia conveyed by all this furious noise and off-kilter arrangements. Fear of the Dawn isn't often a pleasant listen, but it wasn't meant to be: it's a dark adventure, an album designed to provoke and stoke fears, not to soothe them.