With the release of his new pair of albums on the horizon, Jack White has been slowly but surely trickling out new music to prepare us for the release days. Back in October White shared with us “Taking Me Back” taken from the 1st of his albums Fear of the Dawn. Now, in stark contrast with the pounding fuzz focused energy of the first single, his latest output “Love is Selfish”, this time from the 2nd album Entering Heaven Alive, is more reminiscent of his gentler works; “We’re Going to be Friends’”and “Temporary Ground” come to mind. See below the video to the new track directed by Jack White himself.
Hailed by PASTE as “a return to White’s sweet spot”, “Love is Selfish” seems to act, as many other songs have in White’s repertoire, as this album cycle’s acoustic ballad. Being led by White and his acoustic guitar, backed lyrically with heartfelt sincerity this seems to be more reminiscent of his earlier work. It’s not necessarily The White Stripes… but it certainly harkens back to music from before his days with a DJ in the band after leaning in this direction while touring his last album Boarding House Reach. You can see the differences yourself at White’s only confirmed UK appearances at one of the 2 nights in London at the iconic Eventim Apollo on June 27th and 28th. Ticket information is available here.
What we are sure on though, is that both albums have reportedly been made to contrast each other. It has been reported that the pair has been designed to explore different themes using distinct techniques and equipment to hopefully justify the pair of albums not being released together. If each of the albums first singles are anything to go by, Fear of the Dawn (which is set for release on April 9th) seems to be following White’s current trend of fuzzy maximalism. With help from a synth player/DJ, Quincy McCrary, the sound has evolved into something synthetic and futuristic. Whereas the tone set from Love is Selfish seems to lead a more stripped back ‘traditional’ sound for the 2nd album Entering Heaven Alive (to be released a while later on July 22nd).
Whatever it is you’re after from Jack White, you can expect it to sound raw, a little rough, and absolutely packed with his signature idiosyncrasies. You can pre-order the albums on vinyl and CD here. But it wouldn’t be a Jack White release without a myriad of limited-edition releases to try and bag. For Fear of the Dawn you might find a midnight blue vinyl version with a screen-printed jacket available to Third Man Records Vault Members on the vault website, an ‘astronomical blue’ colourway is available at selected independent record stores (find out more here), and a split moon glow white & astronomical blue LP with an 11”x11” screen printed poster and Third Man Records compilation CD can be found at Rough Trade Records. Details on the physical rollout for Entering Heaven Alive will be released soon.
