Jack White has discussed his forthcoming solo album in a new interview.
The former White Stripes frontman releases ‘Boarding House Reach’ on March 23 via Third Man Records/XL Recordings. He’s preceded its release by sharing three new tracks, ‘Corporation’, ‘Connected By Love’ and ‘Respect Commander’.
Now, speaking to Rolling Stone, White discussed how he enlisted a host of new musicians for the album, which included ones that had previously worked with Jay-Z, Kanye West and Kendrick Lamar.
“I had no idea if we’d be able to communicate musically,” White said. “It could’ve been a recipe for disaster. I think it would scare the hell out of most people, so it was very enticing to me.”
“[But] there was so much amazing music being played,” he added. “Some of those songs could take up an entire side of an album, like a Miles Davis record or a Funkadelic record. Then someone would do something and another mood would change the room.”
One song on the new album, ‘Over and Over and Over’, dates back 13 years, and White revealed that he attempted to record the track with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and Jay-Z – the latter during sessions for a since-scrapped collaborative project with the rapper.
“It was sort of my white whale,” he said about the track. “I chased it and chased it, and finally, all of a sudden, it worked.”
“It almost hurt my feelings to condense some of those songs, but I wanted to make it relatable in 2018,” White said of the album. “The entire record, to me, is incredibly modern. I wanted to take punk, hip-hop and rock & roll, and funnel it all into a 2018 time capsule.”
“I’ve always made it my job to push myself into uncomfortable situations. If you’re an artist, your job’s not to make life easier on yourself and make other people do your work for you. I’ve never been a fan of people who do that, and I don’t respect that sort of way of attacking music.”
White last released a solo record in 2014 with ‘Lazaretto‘.
He recently described the album as “good gardening music or roofing music or, you know, back-alley stabbing music”.