The Raconteurs Revival: New Album after Long Hiatus
By Olivia Troiano
“Just finished making the rock & roll album you’ve been waiting for….”
This message was recently released across The Raconteurs’ social media accounts last week, announcing the official finish of their long-awaited album. After roughly a 10 year hiatus since their sophomore album, The Consolers of the Lonely, the supergroup - composed of Jack White, Brenden Benson, Jack Lawrence, and Patrick Keeler - has revived with new music and shows for 2019.
In the time they took off, talks of what the collaborated group have been doing since their success of previous albums have remained quiet. However, from the end of last year up until now, The Raconteurs have utilized their social media to give an inside look at the album-making process, getting fans excited of what’s to come.
In December of last year, the band teased their comeback with two newly released tracks, “Sunday Driver” and “Now That You're Gone." With just two new songs, the future already sounds promising for the band’s return as they both appeal to the signature rock sound of their previous work. To further confirm the group’s revival, The Raconteurs took to their social media accounts to start-up activity again. Since January, the group’s Instagram has been using the hashtag, “#newalbum” along with posts encouraging fans to follow along with the step-by-step process. By sharing pictures from close-ups of soundboards, to band members playing in the studio booth and also a blurred-out picture of songs (which they marked as potential picks for their album with the caption, “X marks the spot”) followers are given an inside look on what went into making the album.
To let fans in on even more about the process, they released a video showing the unique method they use to create and perfect song mixes. Jack White explains that they broadcast their mixes from the controlling room into a nearby car radio, which they then signal to the engineer by walkie talkie to mix in “real time." As they stated in their post, this technique speeds up the process by reducing “the amount of mixes that occur after artists feel they’ve ‘got it’ in the studio."
After eight years since a live performance, The Raconteurs will perform at the 10 year anniversary event of Jack White’s label, Third Man Records. This year they will also release their first full-length album in over a decade which will tour to support the upcoming release. The behind-the-scenes look on social media has given an inside edition on the album-making process as well as what’s in store for their comeback. With the recent announcement, fans are now eager and ready for new music from The Raconteurs, which has certainly been long awaited for.