Turn Blue

The Black Keys are no longer the scruffy underdogs they once were, showing up late and all bleary eyed as they did to the garage-rock revival of the early 2000s. Back-to-back mega-smash albums—2010’s Brothers and 2011’s El Camino, chock-full of those snappy tunes your mother likes—transformed the duo into a stadium-stomping, festival-headlining machine churning out commercial spokesmusic for cars and vodka. So, what’s the logical next step? On Turn Blue, the Black Keys continue ransacking classic rock’s Library of Congress, but this time around, their reference material is less CCR and more Pink Floyd. The lead track, “Weight of Love,” clocks in at over seven minutes and, with its lush studio layering (courtesy of co-producer and longtime collaborator Danger Mouse) and several mournful, reverb-soaked guitar solos, is clearly intended to blow the minds of headphone-wearing stoners. Though frontman Dan Auerbach is distinctly noodlier on guitar than ever before, he’s still partial to succinct, whistle-worthy tunes, like the synthesizer melody on the lead single, “Fever.” Overall, it’s a moodier and more psychedelic Black Keys album than we’re used to. That is, until the album’s final track, the cowboy-boot-stompin’ “Gotta Get Away,” which John Fogerty probably wants back.