Ohio, U.S.A.’s The Black Keys have returned with their eighth studio album entitled Turn Blue. Fronted by Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney the duo have stroked out another great pot of rock stew with no salt needed.
Npr.org’s STEVE INSKEEP: First off, you tell me if you agree with this statement: The music on Turn Blue sounds different than what you were doing five years ago, seven years ago. Is it different?
PATRICK CARNEY: I think every record sounds different than the last to varying degrees: The difference between Brothers and El Camino I think is pretty huge, and El Camino to Turn Blue is also pretty drastic. But in the grand scheme of things, I can see the thread between this record and our first record. There are songs on this record that are coming from the same place as songs on The Big Come Up — like “Gotta Get Away,” the last song.
INSKEEP: Which is just a straightforward jam, basically. It reminds me: This is not the first album you guys have done where there’s a consistent [sound] most of the the way through, and then one song that feels different and kind of like a throwback. “Gotta Get Away” is the song I would I identify here. Are you signaling something by doing that?
CARNEY: Well, this record’s the heaviest, lyrically, that we’ve ever made. It’s also dark and expansive, I think, and when we listened to the sequence, we felt like it needed some kind of reprieve. We normally end every record with the saddest, heaviest, slowest song — and that’s not necessarily been on purpose. But for this record, it seemed appropriate to put the lightest, most straightforward song at the end.
Tune our favorite tracks from The Black Keys Turn Blue below!
Tune: Fever
Tune: Year In Review
Tune: Bullet n The Brain
Tune: Its Up To You Now
Tune: 10 Lovers
Tune: Gotta Get Away
