After a four-year wait, the former mastermind behind minimalist rock outfit White Stripes returns with his highly-anticipated third solo album. Transplanted Nashville resident Jack White has never been afraid to let his influences shine and has put his own twist on the blues-rock-country amalgam he’s perfected.

Boarding House Reach is not like any other previous White releases though; for this intoxicatingly confounding collection of ideas, textures, sounds and sonic experiments, Jack White has thrown away any iota of conventionality he might have once possessed. The album is schizophrenic, claustrophobic at times not without sedate and loose moments. With so much to discover below the surface, the sounds, vibes and textures that make up the album only hint at the true mastery of the songs. Boarding House Reach could have very well been created to serve as a film soundtrack for a movie depicting its central character slowly losing his grip and his mind. An attention-starved, maniacal, anxiety-driven outsider who longs for affection and interaction creeps up throughout the record and makes for a sometimes uneasy yet thrilling ride.

The desperate pining of the album’s slow-building opener, “Connected By Love” is worlds away from the disjointed free jazz/electronica eccentricity of “Hypermisophoniac” but, nonetheless, both ideas work in their own very separate and different ways. If one had to guess the influences that prompted this unpredictable record and its perplexing twists and turns, artists like acid funk pioneers Funkadelic and electronic trailblazer Gary Numan no doubt spent some time occupying White’s turntable while he was crafting this potent and devastatingly refreshing, yet bewildering, record.

By the time the album’s final cut, the cabaret lullaby “Humoresque” comes to an end, listeners may be left scratching their heads but will undoubtedly want to revisit the record to make another attempt at picking up on all the nuances and complexities White has hurled out throughout the unfolding of the record and its many quirky moments.

Quite simply, Boarding House Reach is a fascinating assortment of ideas and experiments that flow into each other flawlessly and make up what’s most definitely Jack White’s most adventurous release to date.

Critic's rating: 4.5 (out of 5).