When your last album was one of the most widely-acclaimed rock albums in recent memory, that’s free license enough to do whatever you want with your next one. And that’s the case with alternative rock band The Black Keys, who gained major mainstream success after their last album El Camino , which consisted of the hit track ‘Lonely Boy’. On their eighth album Turn Blue , there’s more emphasis towards building up a sound rather than just throwing in one guitar hook after another.
Just to tell you how much of a free license The Black Keys – guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney – had on Turn Blue , you need to look no further than their opening psychedelic trip of a song ‘Weight of Love’, which clocks in at nearly seven minutes. That’s the exact opposite of everything that ‘Lonely Boy’ was – slow, layered over with solos and plenty of instrumental sections. Auerbach’s reverb-heavy soul-laden vocals stay on Turn Blue , best exemplified on tracks such as ‘Year In Review’.
The album not only proves how diverse the Black Keys can get, but also how they can move to a very different range of sound with the help from the same producer they worked with on their last album three years ago – Brian Burton aka Dangermouse. The emphasis on Turn Blue , as if the hypnotic artwork did not suggest it, is to expand minds and stick to playfully mellow beats. ‘Bullet in the Brain’ rises with a synth-overloaded chorus, but reminds you of Eighties rock. The first two tracks released off the album – the title track ‘Turn Blue’ and ‘Fever’ – keep in line with smooth grooves and a steady beat. The only point where Carney picks up the pace of the drumming is on ‘It’s Up To You Now’, which doesn’t seem too memorable despite the spike in energy levels.
Turn Blue is an album that you’ll have to let to grow on you, every listen piquing an interest in a song you might have ignored earlier. It’s definitely a return to simplicity in a way for the Black Keys, one that still includes soulful music (best summed up on ‘In Our Prime’) that will resonate as long as you let it in.
