with last year’s attack & release, the black keys made a monumental shift by choosing to embrace polished production (c/o danger mouse) and by working with a much larger palette of instruments— their classic one, two punch of guitars and drums was now complimented and fleshed-out by flutes, organs, and banjos. unfortunately, a lack of memorable songs held the keys back from truly succeeding in their transition. if anything can be learned from attack & release though, it is that the shift in the key’s approach to music was a signal that their song-writing skills were developing in a way that was beginning to outgrow the confines of their early garage-rock leanings. as a testament to that notion, keep it hid, dan auerbach’s first record without fellow key patrick carney, demonstrates a maturity on auerbach’s part, where his choice in instrumentation is complimentary to a song’s voice, and does not cling to the simplicity that the black keys have been known for. these songs have a much warmer, colourful feel that leans more toward folk or country, and as a result, is a more natural direction for auerbach than the modern twist of attack & release. essentially, this is the record that attack & release should’ve been. here, auerbach isn’t trying to distance himself from what he’s done before; he simply does what he does best, and does it well.
Filed under: Album Review , 2009, dan auerbach, keep it hid
