White Mystery
Blood & Venom
By Al Kaufman
White Mystery is the band that White Stripes aspired to be. And maybe they could have done it if Meg White was more interesting, and if Meg and Jack White both had burning red hair.
The brother and sister duo of Miss Alex White and Francis Scott Key White have a made the kind of passionate, fiery album that only redheads can make. Alex’s big fat guitar riffs open the CD on the cut, “White Mystery.” It’s essentially a song about a couple that has nothing in common. But when she yells out, “We are…” along comes Francis to scream in full, post-punk bravado “a white mystery!” It’s oak tree strong, and who the hell cares that it makes no sense whatsoever?
That’s the great thing about Miss Alex. She can spout total nonsense (“In my dreams I’m pumpkin creme/Queen of the water/In my life I can run and scream/Fire king’s daughter” from “Pumpkin Creme”), or repeat total rock cliches ad nauseum (“I have an idea/Let’s have a party” she continually spouts on “Party,” and “I don’t wanna be a good girl/I just wanna be bad” she proudly exclaims on “Good Girl”), and yet, for some reason — maybe it’s all that hair — these ideas sound downright revolutionary.
While Francis bangs on the drums like a man trying to fend off Armageddon, Miss Alex continues her rock star strut. “1985” is about the year she was born and how she “set the world on fire” on that fateful day in April. This is pure energy. This is Jolt Cola mixed with Red Bull and injected into a bluesman’s heart. This is garage rock that would blow the walls off any garage that tried to contain it. This is proof of the old saying, “If you want trouble, find yourself a red head.” Trouble never sounded so good.
White Mystery play The EARL on April 16.
