The Black Keys’ new album ’Let’s Rock’ is up for a world release this 28th, like a caress of musical sweetness for all the grouchy fans sulking over their creative differences that led to a 5 years hiatus and millions of shattered hearts. However, it is time to forgive and rejoice this moment of rock history and just give in, one more time, with atypical, inexplicable, impenetrable love songs arranged with ‘who knows what they were thinking’ bluesy overtones, rock alterations without the contemporary glam of consumerism, sometimes a brush of atoning lull, and word uproar of a lyrical pronouncement that well, may or may not insist satire but in a non-provocative way. Their 9th LP will comprise of 12 ‘so good it hurts’ songs (sounds preconceived biasness, but that’s okay) under the production collaboration of Dan Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound and Nonesuch Records and a subsequent promotional tour with Modest Mouse, all of which is probably at the pinnacle of anticipation in the 18 years span of salient history of the band.
As per Auerbach and Carney, their new record is formulated into an unalloyed vibe that flows in the wind resonating a 70’s setting along the dusty highways of rugged North American valleys. ‘Let’s Rock’s sound is a collaborative effort between the trudging chemistry of Dan Auerbach’s achingly prepossessing vocals and strings and Patrick Carney’s dim to boisterous undulation of percussionist story that utilizes a dual vocal back-up only, no synthesizer slips, no surplus recording band or the extravaganza of ‘THE’ Black Keys’ musical and moral creativity.
We have already been enticed by the goofy satire of Go, the missing linker between their last album Turn Blue and the present act of contrasting glory with ‘Lo/Hi’ and the musical robust with compact old-school riffs and lyrical closures in ‘Eagle Bird’ from ‘Let’s Rock’. The name of the album also has the most overlooked stories with an existential twist. A convicted Tennessee murderer’s swan statement right before his historic electric chair execution ‘Let’s Rock’ is both symbolic and metaphorical in the backdrop of viable circumstances. Dark or just plain pumped-up mid-life touché?
‘Let’s Rock’ is not just a reminiscent of the duo’s torrential affair of musical being, but it is a sigh of relief for us who cried into our pillows at the detrimental thought of never finding our soulmates after the 100th replay of ‘You’re the One’. As 28th June draws closer, I am crying, you are crying, Dan and Patrick are crying inside but do not want the world to know it. It is about the time and the generation rendering The Black Keys as the greatest rock band of the relevant musical timeline that we are blessed to be born into.
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