Sea of Cowards

Sea of Cowards, the second album by Dead Weather, one of many side project of uber-musician Jack White, is dandy. As with their first album, Horehound, there isn't a bad song in the mix, and they all are straight-forward rockers--no room for ballads.

The sound is very much old style blues, the kind you might hear on a roadhouse in Mississippi on a moonless night. You can almost smell the fecundity of the swamp. As with Horehound, the songwriting speaks to the elemental desires, with no rainbows and lollipops. This is anti-bubblegum music.

The group, in addition to White, consists of vocalist Alison Mosshart, guitarist Dean Fertita, and bassist Jack Laurene. The guitars on this album are amazing, squealing and grinding and gnashing. Mosshart and White divide vocals--her highlight is "I'm Mad," which has her repeating the title in between sarcastic laughter. Her voice is deep, with an edge of cruelty, and is also on display in "The Difference Between Us" and "No Horse."

It's not easy coming up with my favorite song, so I'll mention a bunch: "Die By the Drop" is the most ambitious and far-reaching, as the production is exquisite. "Gasoline" may be about a man's love for a car: "I don't want a sweetheart, all I want is a machine. I love you the most I do. When you're close to me I can smell the gasoline." I also like "I Can't Hear You," which has riff that is very similar to the Monkee's TV show's closing theme, "For Pete's Sake."

The closing track is "Old Mary," written solely by White (all the others are written by various combinations of the band) and begins with a spoken word portion that sounds like some weird old prayer in a scary backwoods church: "Old Mary, full of grease, your heart stops within you, scary are the fruits of your tomb and harsh are the terms of your sentence."

According to Internet reports, Dead Weather are currently working on a third album. I can't wait.