Steady As He Goes

Jack White. In Celine Homme. Photographed by Hedi Slimane. Need I say more?

- SUFFIAN HAKIM

“IT’LL SOMETIMES HIT ME in the middle of a song, like, who do I think I am standing up here...playing.”

Jack White said that a decade ago when asked about his calling to stand up on stage to perform before large masses of people. The Detroit-born singer-songwriter and producer was at the height of his fame back then, having successfully launched his solo career after his time with The White Stripes, The Raconteurs and The Dead Weather and a stint producing and collaborating with the likes of Loretta Lynn and Alicia Keys.

His self-awareness and constant introspection give White his musical genius, and more importantly, upkeeps his relevance. From the blues and garage rock of The White Stripes and The Dead Weather to his richly complex, highly experimental recent solo effort Fear of the Dawn (featuring that amazing post-modern jitterbug, Hi-De-Ho), White is always exploring what music means to him and to his listeners. He does that without straying too far from his strengths: guitar-driven, masculine, garage rock bangers typified by earworm-level basslines and imposing percussions.

And sometimes, like any artist who’s married mind, body and soul to his craft, White takes that introspection too far. Take, for example, the time he went five days without food to write his new LPs Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive.