The news that Jack White’s 2018 Album “Boarding House Reach” is set to release this year, has set off a maelstrom of speculation. The completely strange video “Servings and Portions from my Boarding House Reach” was published on Vevo in December 2017, filled with flashes of sounds from the upcoming album.
Since then, fans and critics alike have been clamoring for news. According to Luke Morgan Britton, columnist for NME, the first song track from the new album will premiere at 5pm in the UK and during midday EST on Zane Lowe’s Beats 1 radio show on Apple Music. The song is “Connected By Love”. A cryptic 15 second teaser was just posted January 9 on Twitter by Third Man Records, White’s own label.
With festival appearances already set for this year, White is filling social media with short videos about his music designed for the curious. He’s scheduled to headline at Boston Calling, Shaky Knees, and the Governor’s Ball. Fans will get to hear him in person and finally unravel the mysteries surrounding the portions of his sounds heard so far.
Recently, he said that he’d never recorded in Los Angeles or New York. He visited new spots and met musicians to “see if he could get to a new place”; presumably with his music, not his travels. He also added that he’s “getting somewhere”. Of course, his comments led to speculation that he recorded for his upcoming album in those cities. Dave Lifton, reporting after Pitchfork, confirmed that what is known about White’s newest music is that it was written in Nashville. The news is that White “holed up” in a small apartment in the city. He lived in the barely furnished space and made demos with an old-style reel-to-reel tape recorder. He said that his goal was to write the way Michael Jackson would write. White said he would “think of” melodies rather than humming them, and not write parts using instruments. He wanted to experience this type of composition in one room only. He wanted it to be silent so that he could write “everything in his head”.
White has a string of albums with The White Stripes ranging from the 1999 The White Stripes, to the 2000 De Stijl, to the 2001 White Blood Cells and to the 2007 Icky Thump, and more. He’s also noted for his work with The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather. White’s upcoming album will be his third solo creation. He’s been busy since his 2014 Lazaretto was released. He’s made another The Dead Weather album, co-wrote a song with Beyonce, helped Robert Redford and T Bone Burnett create the PBS American Epic documentary about roots-music, and opened a record pressing plant, performance space and storefront in his hometown Detroit. The new Detroit spaces will be the new Third Man location, and its just a short distance from the area where The White Stripes got started.
White’s already known for vinyl release “gimmicks”. While nobody knows for certain what he’s planned for Boarding House Reach, everyone is looking forward to what he’ll invent next. One thing is certain… the first song will premiere, and it will be uniquely Jack White.
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