Stripes leave 'Satan' in their wake

It's a testament to his relative power that Jack White packs more of a punch on his own than most three, four or five-piece bands can muster. Now before any of you ladies get testy, I realize Meg is ever-present, but let's face it, she bangs away at her cymbals and skins like an impatient kid who missed a Ritalin dose. Jack knows he got soul, and we all know it, too.\nMost people figured that the White Stripes had to have peaked with 2003's Elephant, a record that made everything else out at the time seem fairly irrelevant and rocked pretty hard to boot. Little did those people know that the duo was still making its way up the mountain, the peak just barely out of sight. Get Behind Me Satan is not the sound of a band trying to top their last release. It is the sound of a band (a man) making a conscious decision to self-evolve their (his) songwriting far enough ahead as to sit the trusty guitar by the bedside table and hunker down at a piano; waiting to see what flowed forth.\nWhile their past albums have mostly showcased Jack's prowess as a guitar virtuoso and faux-bluesman, Satan introduces Jack the saloon piano man, Jack the bluegrass balladeer, and even Jack at his rawest, which just happens to be, on tracks like "White Moon" and "As Ugly As I Seem," virtually alone aside from light percussion, expectorating his inner emotions. We've not seen the typically guarded Jack bare his soul like this before, and the result is quietly jaw-dropping.\nThe influence of his 2003 sessions producing and writing for Loretta Lynn are evident on "Little Ghost," a straightforward bluegrass track that makes the entire "O Brother" soundtrack seem weak, and "Take, Take, Take" as well as "Red Rain," two of the best tracks the Stripes have ever laid down which manage to take full advantage of the studio while still seeming refreshingly underproduced. "My Doorbell" and "The Nurse" are unlike anything the duo has recorded before, and we're all the better for it, because when the closer, "I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet)" happens upon us, we're not quite so amazed that Jack can plow us to the ground with nothing more his own voice and a piano.\nIt's hard for me to imagine the White Stripes releasing another record as accomplished and engrossing than Get Behind Me Satan, but I suppose I said that same thing when Elephant came out 26 months ago. If I've learned anything, it's not to underestimate Jack White's seemingly effortless ability to exceed my expectations. Anyone who was paying the least bit of attention knew he had it in him from the first notes of De Stijl. For the time being, Get Behind Me Satan will stand as a succinct testament to the undeniable musical capacity of the Stripes, until their next record retools the wheel brilliantly once again.