The Black Keys charge into new sonic territory on their fifth album, “Attack & Release,” due April 1 via Nonesuch. The 11-track set was produced by Danger Mouse and recorded at Cleveland’s Suma Studio, the Ohio duo’s first time tracking outside their own Akron-based facilities.
Fans of the Keys’ hard-hitting blues-influenced rock’n’roll will feel most at home on the 141-second stomper “Remember When (Side B),” which features a ripping Dan Auerbach guitar solo.
But nearly every other track is enhanced by production and instrumental elements the group has never previously employed, including the banjo- and organ-flecked opener “All You Ever Wanted,” the rave up “Strange Times,” which features piano and ghostly backing vocals, and the bare-bones “Same Old Thing,” which sports bongo drums and flute.
Elsewhere, the Keys hone in on the slower side of the blues, particularly on the off-kilter “Psychotic Girl” and the slide guitar- and organ-laden closer “Things Ain’t Like They Used To Be,” a duet with Auerbach and his protege, Jessica Lea Mayfield.
As previously reported, the group first collaborated with Danger Mouse on what was intended to be a new Ike Turner studio album, but when that project failed to develop beyond a handful of songs, a new Black Keys set produced by Danger Mouse began taking shape.
Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney will begin a spring North American tour March 27 in Tucson, Ariz. The group will also play earlier in the month at South by Southwest in Austin, Texas, with a date and venue to be announced.
Here is the track list for “Attack & Release”:
“All You Ever Wanted”
“I Got Mine”
“Strange Times”
“Psychotic Girl”
“Lies”
“Remember When (Side A)”
“Remember When (Side B)”
“Same Old Thing”
“So He Won’t Break”
“Oceans & Streams”
“Things Ain’t Like What They Used To Be”
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