Jack White is often associated with a retro sound, but this view misses the breadth of micro-revolutions in his discography. The recent Frozen Charlotte singles “G.O.D. and the Broken Ribs” and “Derecho Demonico” hinted at another notable shift, and new song “Dollar Bill” continues this subtle evolution.
Like his last record No Name, what we’ve heard of Frozen Charlotte is guitar-forward and muscular, with callbacks to the aesthetic of later White Stripes and White’s early post-Stripes experiments. There are three or four riffs in “Dollar Bill” that plenty of guitarists would kill to write: downward cascades of vibrato; playful strums that pop upwards and turn into the chords of the verses; and the rocking chunks of power chords in the chorus, which prove again that White isn’t just a fancy strummer, he’s also the best rhythm guitarist since peak James Hetfield.
But it’s in the lyrics and topline that “Dollar Bill” distinguishes itself from other White noises. On No Name, the vocals were the point, and those sticky guitar riffs worked in the service of the sung word. Here it’s more like the lyrics are setting up the guitars, and many of the song’s most exciting moments are wordless.
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And while White is no stranger to social and political themes, the way he approaches them here does feel different, with abstract and even disconnected phrases adding up to a tone-poem about what we’re willing to do for money. There’s none of the lyrical denseness of “Icky Thump” or “Archbishop Harold Holmes,” just repeated clauses like, “I did it for the love and the dollar, a dollar bill/ She did it for the love and the dollar, a dollar,” and, “You can’t control me/ Unless you own me/ And you don’t own me/ Unless I owe you.”
White does indulge in a shout-along bridge, and no doubt live audiences will delight in screaming, “We don’t give a damn/ About it, about it!” It feels good to raise a finger to the almighty dollar, to throw off the weight even for just two minutes and 42 seconds. But that bridge is setting up another guitar explosion, the most furious yet, as the instrument becomes an instrument of revolution.
The themes and vibe might sound a little familiar. But the structures are different now, and so is White’s weapon of choice. It’s as if White is saying, the poems didn’t work, and now poetry must give way to the axe.
Frozen Charlotte is out July 10th and available for pre-order on White’s website. White also has a hefty run of North American and European tour dates set for this year, and you can get tickets here.
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