Consoling the Raconteurs

In 2006, the Raconteurs (the pairing of Brendan Benson's cheery pop sensibilities with Jack White's rock and roll decadence), released their first album, Broken Boy Soldiers. It was a fun debut, more or less what one would have anticipated: infectious pop with a strong edge and driving rock with pop accessibility. The critical response was okay - but the Raconteurs had been given the unfortunate "super group" misnomer, which no doubt led to lofty expectations.

Perhaps in an effort against a critical repeat, this year the Raconteurs released the follow up, Consolers of the Lonely, at the drop of a press release. No one had any idea it was coming. No advances were sent out to the media, no interviews given, no news items published. A mere week separated the announcement of the record's existence and its arrival. The band did this, they said, because they wanted people to listen to it without any preconceived notions of the music.

Had they done anything wildly different, this publicity stunt disguised as a publicity shun might have made more sense. In this case, it probably didn't change much. Aesthetically, there are few differences between Consolers of the Lonely and its predecessor. The biggest change is in time. Where Broken Boy Soliders was just over half an hour long, Consolers of the Lonely is about 20 minutes longer. Unfortunately, this doesn't work to the band's advantage. They crammed those minutes with extraneous rock revival anthems, the type that Jack White's other band - the White Stripes, dare it need to be said - is already so good at. This includes some of the strongest tracks: the brash but brilliant opening title track, and "Top Yourself" which, with its showoff guitar and slyly sexual lyrics, sounds reminiscent of "Ball and a Biscuit" from the White Stripes' Elephant. But some of the weaker tracks ("Attention," "Hold Up") fall in this category, as well, and they drag the album down a bit.

The Raconteurs: "Consoler of the Lonely" (listen)

It's a shame that the Raconteurs gave one style so much weight, because it's where they stray into new musical territory that the band's true excitement and originality lies. When they're not busy constructing a vehicle for even more guitar riffs, the Raconteurs dabble in Beatles style piano rock ("You Don't Understand Me"), soul and doo-wop ("Many Shades of Black"), Southwestern themes ("The Switch and the Spur"), and a murder ballad ("Carolina Drama").

The Raconteurs: "You Don't Understand Me" (listen)

Overall, Consolers of the Lonely is another solid effort from the Raconteurs - perhaps a little too solid, in fact. While the band offers up a longer album, digs a little deeper into their musical ancestors and sounds more serious, the repercussion of this is the loss of memorability that made Broken Boy Soldiers so fun to listen to. It may have been short and lighthearted, but it left the listener wanting more, which could be satiated by replaying it, where Consolers of the Lonely leaves one feeling a bit gorged, which can only be fixed by cutting back.