For those who ever heard any of Brendon Benson's solo work, notably his previous album 'Alternative to Love', you will instantly recognise that the new single from THE RACONTEURS, 'Steady As She Goes', is perhaps a slightly heavier digression from his earlier stuff - retaining his pop-friendly cheery tone and general heartfeltness, but with some heavy instrumental bashing and funky off-beats from the rest of the band adding any edges.
As a single, its ok - not what the hype makes it out to be, and certainly nothing to write home about. But this is to be expected, with The Raconteurs now deemed by the media as the new 'SuperGroup'/'Side Project' (both descriptions the band vehemently deny), the weight of expectation probably rests more heavily on their shoulders than most other new bands (although even the use of the term 'new band' might not be entirely appropriate here).
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In general, The Raconteurs' music seems to be split 50/50 between "Jack White Songs" (rougher, more bluesy, possibly more psychedelic) and "Brendon Benson Songs" (poppy, more melodic). This is opposed to the democratic four-way effort that they are putting across, although Patrick Keeler and Jack Lawrence (formerly from The Greenhornes) seem quite happy enough. Its a shame though, because rather than a magical homogeny of White/Benson songs, which could have proved very interesting, it sounds like they are choosing simply to play each other's songs. "Steady As She Goes", like most of their tunes, is a perfect example of this. Still, they both have very powerful and distinctive styles, and ultimately it's none too bad.
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