alternative rock · 2005
Get Behind Me Satan
The White Stripes
Jack White traded his blues guitar for a marimba, a piano, and a set of acoustic riddles, and it's the sound of a garage-rock band deliberately refusing to repeat itself.
"My Doorbell" runs on a piano-and-drum bounce that owes more to Motown than to Son House, and Meg's kick sits at the center like a heartbeat you can't argue with. Even "Blue Orchid," the one screaming electric single, feels like a feint — the record keeps swerving toward "Little Ghost," a mandolin hoedown, and "White Moon," a piano ballad shot through with paranoia. The through-line is Jack chasing a mood of guilt and betrayal, naming names in songs like "The Nurse" while a marimba plinks against sudden guitar stabs. It closes on "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" with two voices and a piano, the last word of a band that just proved it could walk away from its own formula and still sound like nobody else.