Do Rabbits Wonder?

First, there was the Detroit band without a bassist and next we got wind of some other band from Michigan, recording this time without a guitarist. Expectations were high – the gimmick got us a tad excited first time round and besides, Jack White was producing this album.

Sadly, Whirlwind Heat have failed to deliver what could have been at best a potentially interesting project. It seems as though an intriguing premise may bring a concept off the drawing board, but the songs are sorely needed to deliver the knockout punch.

The music of Whirlwind Heat is somewhere between the addled lunacy of The Make Up and the idiosyncratic art school antics of Devo. David Swanson’s vocals and synthesiser are the glue that pull each song together, but the lack of the screech of a guitar is sorely needed to give these songs bite, or even a hint of personality.

Even having the likes of Jack White, Brendan Benson and Dave Fridmann on board doesn’t raise the album’s real estate by much, although the associations can’t hurt. Some White Stripes disciples will probably ‘get it’ but as for the rest of us: come back Les Paul, all is forgiven…