Jack White's Immaculate Taste In Women.

I don't want to sound like a used car salesmen today.  I want to write a blog that inspires you to log onto itunes and explore music that you haven't considered before.  I want you to experience the textures and layers in music that I do and find sounds that come to mean more to you than just background music in the car.  I can't help but hear magic in certain sounds and then I have to talk about them... or write about them.  Sometimes I become obsessed with just one measure, or a single harmony.  I can replay it over and over and over in my head, and if I hear it enough in my mind, I have to listen to it again.  I hear that this is typical which is good, because after I obsess about a single line, I sometimes feel as though I am losing grasp on reality.

While I find complete joy in many musical moments that I hear, there are very few complete albums these days that make me want to listen from open to close.  Sometimes I feel like the days of vast imagination in music are over.  Then I will be proven wrong by one great album.   One of the new album's that made it's way onto this "great album" list of mine is Karen Elson's, The Ghost Who Walks.

If you are familiar with fashion then you have heard her name before.  She is the tall, drop dead gorgeous, red head model that seems to have a contract with everyone.  Seriously, her face is everywhere.  She's a great model though who deserves the work, her pictures are compelling.  She was one of my favorite fashion models already, and then I heard that her husband, Jack White, was producing an album that she was writing and singing herself.  Insert token eye roll here.

Of course she married a musician, and of course he produced an album.  That was the first thought that crept through my mind.  We must have heard this story before.  Now think back to the part of the blog where I said that her album fascinated me.  Ok, that's not verbatim, but it's close.

I should have known not to doubt the power of that almighty genius who's name is Jack White.  I mean, he has not steered me wrong yet... I LOVE all of his projects, including the bluegrass that he did for the Cold Mountain soundtrack.  When I sampled The Ghost Who Walks, I knew from the first twenty seconds that it was awesome, as I had goosebumps.  The title song is haunting and lilting.  Karen spends half of her time back in retro and the other half of her time singing songs with a country/bluegrass/folky flair.  The opening song, The Ghost Who Walks is retro for sure, with a faint echo and a steady beat.  It is genius, and every time I listen to it, I hum the melody for days.  Putting that song first on the album was a great move because it succeeds in grabbing the listener and hooking them in.  I looked forward to hearing the rest of the album solely from sampling  the first song.

The only fault I find is that Karen's voice is a little thin.  Her music is pretty, some of it brilliant.  Her range is good and there are moments that she lets go, lets her voice fly and it fills itself out for her.  Other moments show that she is an inexperienced singer who must work on rounding out the tone.  Jack heard it, and compensated for it in a truly interesting way:  he layered her voice on several tracks.  While someone who hasn't listened to the album might call this cheating, I call it ethereal.  To have an artist layer their own voice and sing the same line on top of itself is interesting to say the least.  Here it has a chilling affect and provides greater grasp in the melodies.

If you liked Neko Case's perfect album, Fox Confessor Brings The Blood, then you will like this album.  Songs like Stolen Roses and Mouths To Feed are compelling and reminiscent of old British folky music, while being contemporarily relevant at the same time.  All of the harmonies are performed by Elson herself, which I always prefer.

Should I provide a sample for you?  I should.

Quirky? Yup!  Of course it is!  It is also solid gold.