Entering Heaven Alive
“When I work on music, I always feel like I’m trying to do something new,” Jack White tells Apple Music. “But I know quite often I’m taking things that worked in the past that I think are less well-known, or they’re interesting or idiosyncratic or whatever it is, and juxtaposing it with something I’ve never done before.” In the case of *Entering Heaven Alive*—his second album of 2022, after *Fear of the Dawn*—that might mean gothic folk with a reggae coda (“All Along the Way”) or a mellow, Neil Young-style jam overlaid with nursery-rhyme rapping (“A Madman From Manhattan”). But where *Fear of the Dawn* felt almost confrontationally eccentric, *Heaven* is rustic and restrained: the marital oath of “Help Me Along,” the Celtic waltz of “Please God, Don’t Tell Anyone.” Then there’s something like “A Tree on Fire From Within,” whose lyrics are as obscure and enigmatic as its music is robust—a mix that not only characterizes White’s best songs, but the early blues he often calls back to. But this is the dynamic with White, who, like Paul McCartney, is as equally capable of writing “Honey Pie” as he is “Let It Be,” and whose most interesting stuff tends to fall somewhere in between. He isn’t breaking tradition, nor is he perpetuating it—he’s building on it. Or, as he puts it, “jump\[ing\] in the river that’s already moving.”
Entering Heaven Alive is the fifth studio album from Jack White, founding member of The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather. True to his DIY roots, this record was recorded at White's Third Man Studio throughout 2021, mastered by Third Man Mastering, and released by Third Man Records. Coming summer 2022.
The follow-up to this year’s wild Fear of the Dawn is a stripped-down songwriter record, but often the songs don’t resonate as deeply as the sounds.
Released just months apart, the former White Stripe’s twin album collection showcases his often breathtaking artistry
Compared to its irreverently strange predecessor, the second of White's 2022 albums sounds reluctant and unsure of itself.
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The second record of 2022 from Nashville-by-Detroit rock star Jack White, Entering Heaven Alive represents a clear departure from the wacky experimentation of the first, Fear of the Dawn.
Jack White's second album in three months, 'Entering Heaven Alive' exists at a blurry intersection of inscrutability and openness.
With 'Entering Heaven Alive' Jack White offers the yang to the yin of 'Fear of the Dawn' while broadening his musical palette.
Entering Heaven Alive by Jack White Album Review by Robert Duguay. The multi-artist's full length is out today via Third Man Records
The degree to which Jack White’s artistic cowardice has not really hindered his career in any meaningful way is impressive.
White's latest LP speaks of personal heaven and Nastasia’s of hell, while there are indie revenants and rap surrealists all around
Tree on Fire From Within is a particular highlight, it seems to return the singer back to himself
Playful, varied, relaxed and enjoyable new one from the former White Stripe. Album New Music review by Thomas H Green.