The Black Keys

If you haven’t been paying attention to the Akron, Ohio based duo for the past, err, half-decade you’ve been missing out.  Over four records (beginning with the critically acclaimed The Big Come Up in 2002) the band has made their mark as purveyors of almost perfect lo-fi, blues-infused rock-and-roll.  Record after record they churn out deceptively simple combos made up of Carney’s hard-smashing drums and Auerbach’s prematurely soul-laced vocals. 

It was something you could depend on – until now.

The Album: Attack and Release

There are three pertinent facts one should know before delving in to the new release by rock-duo The Black Keys.  One, the album was originally intended as a collaboration between Dan Auerbach, Patrick Careny and maligned soul legend Ike Turner.  Sadly, Turner passed away earlier this year.  Second, famed producer Danger Mouse (yes, of Gnarls Barkley fame) produces the entirety of the album.  

And three, this isn’t any Black Keys you’ve heard before.

Just the first gentle guitar strum on opener “All I Ever Wanted” seems off, a little slower, a little less electric than the average Black Keys fan is used to.  As if the gentle tinkering of a hip-hop soul, and the subtle influence of a deceased soul legend have helped speed along the evolution of one of today’s most enjoyable rock groups.

While, yes, Danger Mouse is smart enough to keep the distorted guitar riffs and head-cracking drum beats at the core of the songs, he’s also crafty and original enough to turn them on their head.  “I Got Mine”, the albums most traditional Black Keys rocker churns along with a typical blues swagger but the inclusion of the discordant voices of a near psychedelic choir, clearly signifies that we, the listener, are in for a whole new experience.

Single “Strange Times” is reminiscent of tracks we’ve heard before from The Black Keys, but Danger Mouse injects it with a coat of shimmering dream pop for the beautiful chorus.  From their on out expectations should be left at the door.  “Psychotic Girl” plinks along with a dime-star guitar, backed by gentle brushes and lightly funky bass.  “Remember When Side A” is possibly the prettiest song on the album, a sleepy bit of pop that wraps itself around Auerbach’s wavering holler.  In context with other Black Keys album, it’s almost quiet, eschewing the hard-working squalor of albums past, for an astounding degree of matured complexity.

That said, t isn’t that anything’s been taken from The Black Keys repertoire, no, not at all.  The distortion wreathed guitar riffs still power the majority of the tracks.  Auerbach’s wail still floats atop each and every hammering drum beat.  It’s just that each piece has been tweaked, stretched, played with. Everything that was, still is, just different. And that is most certainly a good thing.