Grade: B+
Bottom Line: Another great album by the Black Keys, but nothing too new on their latest album. Brothers has some great tracks for first-time Black Keys listeners to hear before seeking out their older works.
The Black Keys, consisting of drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist Dan Auerbach, recently reunited and recorded Brothers, their first studio album together in over a year. Auerbach released a solo album, Keep it Hid, last year without telling Carney and almost spilt the duo in half. But the two friends from Akron, Ohio got back together to make this their latest record.
“We love each other, we get on each other’s nerves, we piss each other off,” Auebach explained in Rolling Stone. “But like brothers, we know it’s all okay.”
In the shadow of the more prominent duo garage-style rock band, the White Stripes, the Black Keys still manage to create a gritty and bluesy sound different from Jack and Meg. They open Brothers with “Everlasting Light.” The track starts off with all the qualities that have made the Black Keys successful: lo-fi recording, prominent distorted guitar and gritty guitar hooks. But Auerbach begins singing in a high, whining falsetto close to Jim James of My Morning Jacket or Nathan Willet of Cold War Kids.
The third track, “Howlin’ for You,” begins with a drum beat eerily similar to Gary Glitter’s “Rock and Roll Pt. 2.” Auerbach even begs for some call and response halfway through the song. But the drum-led song is laden with repetitive distorted guitar licks instead of Gary Glitter’s all-too-familiar hook.
The rest of the album offers standard Black Keys style of loud, bluesy music. Some tracks flow into one another with almost no break as if the album was split only by lyrics.
The album combines Auerbach’s overly-distorted guitar and Carney’s thrashing drums to create a loud but minimalistic sound. The tracks are simple enough to enjoy without serious listening, but the album lingers too long without offering a substantive change in style on any track. Brothers is more of the same, but that’s definitely not a bad thing.