Consolers of the Lonely

The Raconteurs are doomed to be popular

As it is well-known, success is a capricious thing. You can plan to become popular but nobody can guarantee that you will finally achieve it. However, when it comes to super-groups everything looks completely different. You are doomed to become popular even if you will try to hide the existence of your side-project. This is what actually happened to American band The Raconteurs, which was formed by two popular indie rockers Jack White and Brendan Benson in 2005. According to the musicians the term super-group doesn't really suite to them because it implies something pre-planned, whereas they are actually "a new band made of old friends". The Raconteurs recorded their debut full length album Broken Boy Soldiers at Benson's home studio in the very beginning of 2006. The result didn't keep them waiting for long. By the end of the year the album was awarded the title Album of the Year by Britain's Mojo magazine. And in 2007 it was nominated for the Grammy Award for best rock album.

Live energy of Consolers Of The Lonely

It is quite obvious that success of The Raconteurs is based not only on the fame of Jack White and his mega popular band The White Stripes. In fact, the musicians are actually trying to avoid the loud promo actions. Their new album Consolers of the Lonely was released without any media support at all but it only intensified public's interest to the band. At first glance The Raconteurs' music doesn't look like something extraordinary. The album abounds in riffs in the vein of British blueshard rock (listen to Salute Your Solutions for instance), harmonies a-la The Beatles (Old Enough) and other elements of classic rock, which can be distinguished almost in every tiny part of this record. But nevertheless The Raconteurs do sound unique. Perhaps they can remind you those old classic bands but at the same time their music never looses a spirit of up-to-dateness. The songs always find some room for experiment, for excitement, for emotional splash and artistic search – the live energy literally swirls within these songs and it is simply impossible not to feel it.

Between past and present

This liveliness creates a stable feeling that the entire album was written on the spot, as if the musicians didn't have enough time but they had a plethora of good ideas at that. A jam session air persists throughout the album and creates a very specific aura, which somehow joins all the songs making them equally strong. Consolers of the Lonely is an album indeed, not a single with a set of b-sides. The album has no pronounced hit not because they failed to compose it but because two thirds of the songs represented here can take this place easily. In comparison with its predecessor Consolers of the Lonely sounds much brighter and more unique. The band entered a pretty interesting territory. They find themselves somewhere between past and present, they simultaneously remind Led Zeppelin, Queens Of The Stone Age, Velvet Revolver and of course The White Stripes. Consolers of the Lonely may suit to a very wide circle of listeners starting from fans of classic rock to followers of garage rock revolution. Live energy of this album can unite really diverse public.