There was a bleak quality to the songs dropped during the week surrounding Valentine’s Day. Following Taylor Swift’s Hunger Games track “Safe and Sound” an ephemeral lullaby about death and endings, there appeared Jack White’s “Love Interruption,” a song that at eye level would be more topically suited to the holiday at hand, as its discourse is all love. While its understated melody hints at something simpler, White’s love is not for the faint of heart, speaking to murder plots and doors slamming on fingers, to lost friends and fresh enemies.
“Love Interruption” is not a song that needs a catchy video, and with its ashy tones and simple backdrop, the vision is not particularly compelling. What becomes the focal point is not the video, but the throaty voice of Ruby Amanfu accompanying White’s own sturdy vocals, a harmony that shouldn’t work, that almost doesn’t, but ends up rousing us to attention in a way I nearly forgot was possible from the Jack White of catchy guitar riffs. “Love Interruption” isn’t a track for everyone, and it is certainly not a track for Valentine’s Day, but in the midst of winter skies and winter sickness and winter stay-abed love affairs, it will suit many of us just fine.
Jack White’s first solo endeavor, Blunderbuss, will drop in full on April 23.
