Album Review: The Black Keys - Turn Blue

The Black Keys continue to expand on the whole two guys, sticks and riffs ideals, with eighth album Turn Blue seeing the Akron, Ohio natives sell the El Camino for a split window Kombi with curtains, cushions and even a lava lamp. The record drifts through the speakers like a plume of smoke, which ironically makes it kind of difficult to really be blown away by. But rather than a startling jolt, Turn Blue is a subtle massage, and the more time you give it the more you appreciate its curves and sex appeal.

Dan Auerbach gets his six-string freak on immediately, dragging the guitar solos of Weight Of Love to the edges and back, while drummer Pat Carney comfortably trails with a low-key beat in the song's back nook. In Time and Turn Blue wouldn't be out of place on Broken Bells' latest album, no surprise given Danger Mouse is producing the band once more. Fever, meanwhile, is the closest this record comes to a straight-up rock number, but even that is done lucidly, the hooks of the track instead held on a jangly bass line and an exasperated organ that sounds like it's going to run out of puff at any moment.

Coming home, there are elements of psych (Bullet In The Brain), zoot suit blues (It's Up To You Now) and even The Black Keys Midwest take on R&B (10 Lovers). The end result is a hypnotising, different record, but one that's sometimes just a little too lethargic.