Extra pieces of the No Name puzzle were released fairly soon after Jack White’s latest album. His sudden release felt like preparation for a sudden stand-in of Queens of the Stone Age. Their drop from the festival circuit meant White, on hand to step in on the Øyafestivalen stage among others, feeds a need for new material. No Name was that, and the likes of You Got Me Searching and That’s How I’m Feeling were not far behind. More exceptional guitar work from the former White Stripes member should be no surprise. His consistent and often shockwave-sending blur of classic guitar and garage structure with enough of a modern twist to feel those new moves in there is what he so often provides. You Got Me Searching is a heroic effort, a welcome post-No Name release from White.
Religious subtext can be found in the final stages of You Got Me Searching, the sins and seven days linger on the mind well after the song concludes, and the immediate repeat play cements it. A leftover track from No Name, one which did not make the cut for one reason or another. Perhaps it was the heaviness of its message or the intent was too clear. You Got Me Searching is glad to reveal itself and the occasion by the end. One of those tracks that is thoroughly dependent on its instrumental interest. White has rarely let us down and he does not here, that much can be heard from the opening moments. A slick and repetitive riff which is all too happy to give way to some percussion additions, some bold punches underneath lyrical aspirations. White hopes to heal the blind, to become this miracle worker of near-Godly proportions. Music is what he can do to achieve this, and while he may not cure a lack of vision, he does crush it, expectedly so.
White works at a quality akin to the great guitarists who credit him as keeping the genre fresh and burning. Never believe a person who says guitar rock is dead. They are merely ignorant. You Got Me Searching does more for the genre, more for the listener, too, than most of the drivel and blues-like modern twists heard. White remains ahead of the rest, a voice of conviction with a theme of the hunt. Continue the search for great works and life never gets dull. Crunchy guitar brilliance and the howls of a phenomenal vocalist are all you need to find the energy, to find the soulful nature of blues rock again. White is giving it his all on the No Name pieces, and You Got Me Searching is a must-listen addition bound for greatness as a deep cut of his discography.
Search on, then. White is asking us to keep on pushing for those next inspirations in a genre filled with half-baked concepts, slow-to-build ideas and guitar pieces which are just not up to scratch. When we demand more from a genre or artist, the results are usually an honest day’s work. You Got Me Searching certainly is. A rocking track of understanding what people want and why they want more of it. No Name dropped out of the blue and yet made itself known, immediately so, without the fanfare of build-ups. It feels then that White had a few more tracks to offer, those nods to be made with post-release singles. They are welcome experiences and White is full of them, offering after offering to the fundamentals of rock, elevating them with a unique style as he so often does.
