5/10
Favorite Track: "Shine a Little Light" Least Favorite Track: "Breaking Down"
The Black Keys are an American rock band consisting of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. This duo has been one of the loudest and most influential voices in the rock scene of the 10s and they haven’t given other collectives much time to catch up. The group has been consistent in their output throughout essentially their entire career, racking up a staggering nine studio albums in just seventeen years. So it wasn’t a surprise that after their critically acclaimed album Turn Blue in 2014 that the band decided to take a much needed hiatus. This hiatus bred a few things including a solo side project for Auerbach as well as the formation of a new band on his behalf, a child, a wife, and various side projects for Patrick Carney, but most importantly the eventual release of a comeback record, and that brings us to 2019’s “Let’s Rock”. On “Lets Rock” the keys trade in some of their garage rock and lofi roots for more an indie edge. With clearer and more cleanly produced vocals this record is a little safer on the production side than the keys do usually side with but nonetheless, their vintage sound is all over this project. They decided to deny any collaborators on this one besides a few backing vocalists which marks an end to their long time partnership with Danger Mouse who has produced their last four records. The band instead decided to self-produce this project in search of a revitalization of their writing style and creative process. Whether this is the reason or not, there isn't much in the way of groove on this project which makes the songwriting a little lackluster. That is part of the reason why i’m not a gigantic fan of anything on this project track wise, consequently nor do I have a heavy distaste for any of the songs either. Outside of some of the solos on tracks like “Every Little Thing”, the track list is generally pretty bland instrumentally in terms of modern rock standards. There isn’t much I can see myself coming back to this thing. The classic Black Keys sound with sort of an indie garnish delivers exactly what we expect it too on this album, but in turn sacrifices any recognizable features that set it apart from other rock releases this year.