The Dead Weather: Sea of Cowards
I’ve sat down to write this review at least half a dozen times over the past few weeks and found myself absolutely stymied as to how to express my feelings regarding Sea of Cowards, the second offering from Jack White’s (The White Stripes, The Raconteurs) latest project The Dead Weather. It has become one of those records that often finds itself on my turntable in the middle of the night when I’m sure “Little” Jack Lawrence’s (The Raconteurs, The Greenhornes) pulsing bass lines are disturbing my neighbors. I should be asleep but Sea of Cowards has other plans. It seethes and simmers and drags me head first into White’s Southern Gothic nightmare. There is no escape but I am more than happy to go.
From the opening riff of “Blue Blood Blues” to the final chants of “Old Mary,” the record holds me in its terrifying  grip. Unlike the band’s debut, Horehound, released only last year, this latest effort feels more concise and cohesive. Even while lacking standout tracks such as “Hang You from the Heavens” and “I Cut Like a Buffalo,” Sea of Cowards plays like an all-night blues session with one song effortlessly segueing into the next. Dean Fertita’s (Queens of the Stone Age) heavy guitar and organ work dominate the mix while White’s drumming is perfect in its ferocity yet lack of flashiness. More often than not Allison Mosshart (The Kills) and White trade vocals and at times it is impossible to discern where one voice ends and the other begins. These two were born to sing together.
Lyrically, the album channels much of the darkness of its music, painting obtuse portraits of spurned lovers and hustlers; broken men and women. Even when speaking in riddles, the album evokes universal truths of the dark side of human existence when Mosshart declares how “Some people die just a little / Sometimes you die by the drop” from “Die by the Drop.” “No Horse” depicts an equally despairing image of a man who declares, “All my coins are flipped out / I’m just a’ livin’ an’ breathing / On what I steal from myself.” He is/has nothing and simply watches his “cigarette smoking on itself.” There are no hopes and no dreams, only darkness.
The album’s closer, “Old Mary” plays on the Catholic prayer urging the “Mother to the world” to carry our burdens “Now and till the moment of your last breath.” This final line echoes as a chant and mantra that fades long after Sea of Cowards has played its final notes. We carry our burdens now and till the moment of our last breath. Cloaked in blues and heavy rock n roll, The Dead Weather remind us of this. They express the darkest fleeting thoughts and desires that come to us or at least to me most often in the middle of the night. The needle has lifted. White and company are done with me tonight. It’s time to go to bed.
