One of the biggest questions about the White Stripes was how they forced so much noise out of an electric guitar and drums. Controversially, they have ditched their minimalist cool here, adding marimba, piano and acoustic guitar. Instead of expanding their vocabulary, however, Get Behind Me Satan is a curiously inarticulate record.

The band’s natural charisma might ensure some intrigue — As Ugly As I Seem flaunts a Fleetwood Mac vibe, the country-rocking Forever for Her (Is Over for Me) continues their spiritual shift from Detroit out West. The creeping lounge music of The Nurse is less avant-garde, while whining about fame is rarely beguiling even when, as on Take, Take, Take, it’s disguised as a fable about Rita Hayworth.

It might break their experimental hearts to know that the best tracks are those that continue to extend the reach of their bare-knuckle rock’n’roll: Instinct Blues, rendering Cole Porter’s Let’s Do It with X-rated intent, or the empire-building single Blue Orchid. Maybe they hope to roughen the road for fair-weather fans. Still, given that Fell in Love With a Girl inadvertently catapulted Joss Stone to stardom, who can blame them for playing hard to get?

(XL)

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