Live: the Dead Weather at the Roxy

Alison Mosshart's lips nearly grazed Jack White's when the pair shared a microphone Wednesday night at the Roxy. The room grew more humid during that encounter, though the singers never touched. Later, when White took one of his showy guitar solos, Mosshart simply stood and stared. Did her locked gaze signify adoration? Or was it hostile -- a silent way of shouting, "Get out of my spotlight"?

In the Dead Weather, the group that unites Mosshart with White, along with guitarist-keyboardist Dean Fertita and bassist Jack Lawrence (who also play with White in the Raconteurs), the foundations of the four-piece rock band are shaken loose just enough to let some interesting complexities surface. The band's sound is firmly rooted in heavy blues-rock, but the presence of Mosshart up front and White mostly behind the drums turns this revival on its side, if not completely upside down.

Mosshart, a member of the drone-rock duo the Kills, is a riveting frontwoman whose erotic power isn't attached to feminine cliches. Singing lead for most of the Dead Weather's hour-and-change set, she was in constant flux: shaking her slender hips and knotty black hair, leaning perilously into the crowd, dancing in a seeming stupor one moment and coiling to leap the next.

Her vocals went from a sultry murmur to a scary growl, evoking forebears such as Grace Slick and Polly Jean Harvey but never settling into mere imitation. They weren't gospel-strong; Mosshart found power in innuendo and seductiveness, as well as by daring to be ugly. Often, her voice mingled with White's high wails in a fashion that could fairly be described as familial.

That's relevant because White, of course, gained serious fame in another minimalist rock duo, the White Stripes, whose drummer, Meg White, is his former wife, though she originally identified herself as his sister. In that group, Jack is unequivocally the star, singing and playing guitar with a fervor that's turned him into a culture hero for his generation. Meg follows and supports him; her unusual stature as a female drummer is somewhat undercut by Jack's overwhelming dominance.

In the Dead Weather, the lines of exchange are more intricate. White, the group's star, hides in plain sight behind the drum kit (except when he steps out for a rare guitar solo or lead vocal). Mosshart commands the foreground, except for occasionally when she and White stalk around within it; during those songs, she might also play guitar.