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The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards

Third Man /Reprise

Jack White has proven that, like The Raconteurs, The Dead Weather is not a side project to his White Stripes gig but rather another fully realized band. Its new Sea of Cowards is exactly what one would hope from its sophomore album: greater swagger, tauter song structures and more of the band’s menacing sexuality. Impeccably sequenced with songs often flowing into one another, the album is a delirious merry-go-round of analog fuzz, distorted vocals and thundering rhythms. White again assumes duties behind the drum kit as Kills’ femme fatale Alison Mosshart shares vocals with him—their purr-n-howl delivery perfectly suited for each other (Jack Lawrence and Dean Fertita round out the group on bass and guitar, respectively). While no one would dare say The Dead Weather is a hippie band, Sea of Corwards is a psychedelic blues record featuring songs that would’ve been right at home at the Fillmore East—numbers like “I Can’t Hear You,” “No Horse” and “Hustle And Cuss” in particular. However, its songs like “The Difference Between Us” and “Old Mary” that are indelibly The Dead Weather—the ones that make a listener feel like they’re being mercilessly hunted down.