The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers [Indie Exclusive]

After a rough stretch that included a cancelled arena tour and a very public split with their management, Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney went looking for new blood. For their thirteenth studio album they brought in outside songwriters for the first time, sitting down in Nashville with pop veterans Rick Nowels and Daniel Tashian and hip hop producer and keyboardist Scott Storch.

The result is the most polished record The Black Keys have made. The fuzz guitar and backbeat are still there, but the songs lean harder on melody and hooks than on riffs. "The Night Before" opened the campaign with a big, sunny chorus, "Babygirl" and the title track lean into seventies AM radio warmth, and "Man On A Mission" is the closest thing here to the garage stomp of their early records. At eleven songs and roughly thirty six minutes, nothing overstays its welcome.

No Rain, No Flowers is the sound of a band two decades in, deciding that craft is the next frontier. Longtime fans get Auerbach's voice and Carney's swing, and newer listeners get some of the catchiest songs in the catalog.

Indie exclusive pressing on ruby red vinyl, with a printed inner sleeve and a 24" x 36" poster. Released by Easy Eye Sound and Warner Records.