The Dead Weather – Horehound

"Horehound" is certainly one of the most innovative and refreshingly brilliant albums of 2009. After the first listen it had the same effect on me as did "Trout Mask Replica" back in 1969, "Dummy" by "Portishead" in 1994 or "The Good Ones" by "The Kills" in 2005... Total Wow.

Right from the ambient discords that swell into the delta blues swamp-punk rhythms of the opening track "60 Feet Tall" the band stamp their genius over the following ten tracks with Mosshart's vocal delivery typical of her role in The Kills, delivered like a frenetic Patti Smith or Karen Orzolek. Fertita's guitar-organ and synth work add an uneasy and spectral aura to the work, giving a kind of Korn-like edge to tracks like "3 Birds" or the inner realms of "Treat Me Like Your Mother". Lawrence, seemingly ed at the hip with White from "Raconteurs" sessions plugs the holes, where the multi-talented White fails to play three instruments at once, such as the sweeping guitar work on "Rocking Horse" that wouldn't be lost in a David Lynch movie.

Whilst Mosshart may take center stage with lyrical input on all but two of the tracks, one of which is a cover of Dylan's "New Pony", it is White who is undoubted master of this eclectic foursome. His drumming is very much in the foreground of the mix and his guitar work retains all the spirit of blues traditions, seemingly plugged into the same inspirational sources as JJ Cale and Tom Morello at once. White also produced the album throughout a series of collective songwriting sessions in early 2009 and it's faultlessly engineered by Philip J. Harvey and mixed by Vance Powell & White. The album closes with the plaintive and slow-paced gospel blues style "Will There Be Enough Water?"

My question is "How long before 3 Birds pops up in a TV ad?" This is a 5-star album from a 5-star band. Don't miss it.