Jack White didn't get where he is without a keen sense of theater and self-promotion, and not many artists could build a buzz around a new album the way he did with 2024's
No Name. On July 19, 2024, anyone who made a purchase at one of
White's
Third Man stores in Detroit, Nashville, and London would find in their bags a mysterious LP, in a plain white sleeve and with the white labels simply stamped "No Name." Of course, the sort of folks shopping at his stores are the sort of music nerds who would be intrigued and delighted by getting a mystery disc, and before long the music media was abuzz with stories about
White releasing a new album in a manner that was at once secretive and bound to call attention to itself. It didn't take long for needle-drop bootlegs of the album to circulate online, and within a week,
No Name had been given an official wide release. So what sort of album did
White make to hype in this manner?
No Name happens to be the most straightforward rock & roll album he has delivered in some time, a set of 13 tough guitar-based tunes with an abundance of swagger and a kick that melds the punky minimalism of
the White Stripes with his well-documented obsession with
Led Zeppelin. (You could make an effective drinking game out of making listeners take a shot when they hear a clear
Zep lift in the melodies or
White's guitar.) If
White's two albums of 2022,
Fear of the Dawn and
Entering Heaven Alive, found him introspectively exploring the outer margins of his music as he struggled with the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic,
No Name is an enthusiastic return to the familiar, though it doesn't play like a regression so much as an artist embracing their strengths and having a good time doing so. The lyrics are full of braggadocio, declaring "If God's too busy then I'll bless myself" in "Bless Yourself" and "I'll make you miss me again" in "Missionary," and they're matched to guitar work that rhymes.
White's leads constantly swing from elemental chunkiness to bluesy flash without losing his footing, and the clean, unobtrusive production flatters his tone and lets the other musicians strut their stuff without taking the spotlight off the star (as if he would permit such a thing). Even without its publicity stunt release,
No Name would doubtless click with an awful lot of
Jack White's fans, and it's the sort of idiosyncratic but lean and mean rock album he's needed to make for a while. ~ Mark Deming
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