indy cd & vinyl

BLACK KEYS—ATTACK AND RELEASE

The guitar and drums duo of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney have always gone for a minimalist approach to blues-rock, as befits their being only two people in the band. Crashing drums and searing or pounding electric guitar lines have been their stock-in-trade, and their excellence in pursuing this path has never seemed like much of a limitation when listening to their previous albums. With the addition of Danger Mouse (one –half of Gnarls Barkley) as their producer and co-conspirator on Attack and Release, however, we find out that, yes, sometimes more is better. Not that Danger Mouse has overloaded Attack and Release with symphonies or guitar armies. In fact, crashing drums and spare, yet searing guitars still dominate and drive the proceedings as before. When keys, synths, banjo, percussion, and even clarinet and flute are added to the mix, Danger Mouse’s genius is in largely keeping them as a sort of deep, sonic backdrop to the main event. And it is this added depth to the Black Keys formula that makes this album such a compelling listen. “All You Ever Wanted” starts the album with a soft voice, acoustic guitar, and lightly tapping percussion before storming in with drums, guitar, and heavy organ chords.   But the acoustic guitars and percussion never really go away, filling up the space (along with various keyboards) beneath the Black Keys’ stomp to glorious effect. The same technique is employed throughout the album, often giving each song its own unique feel, whether it be the “haunting” blues of “Strange Times” or the layered, echoing backdrop to “Psychotic Girl”. Despite this, it is obvious that Danger Mouse loves the basic sound of the Black Keys (he contacted them to see if he could work with the duo), with some songs (e.g., the appropriately titled “Remember When”) sounding almost identical to the Black Keys of old. All of this lends a variety to Attack and Release not present on their previous albums. And while these albums have all been outstanding in their own right, Danger Mouse proves his excellence as a producer by propelling this album beyond its forebears, but without losing any of the essence that makes the Black Keys what they are—a primal blues-rock juggernaut.