The first single released from the duo’s latest album ‘El Camino‘ stands as a quick, powerful fix for all of the hungry Black Keys fans tapping their toots in anticipation of their next all-American meal.
As a starter, this gem of a track slides down the audio gullet very sweetly indeed, promising fine tidings for the full album experience – rolling in with an elephantine riff sent from the hands of Auerbach, it’s hard-hitting from the off and seconds later, with the introduction of Carney’s breakneck backbeat the tempo just keeps on a-climbing until it’s nigh on impossible not to get swept along in its incredibly catchy tirade.
And amongst this mountainous soundscape comes the dual-weld gruff-wailing vocals of Auerbach; moaning joyously on every artist’s favourite topic – a tortured romance; “But I came to love you, am I going to bleed? I got a love that keeps me waiting, waiting, waiting” before launching into a chorus that’ll sink straight into your bloodstream and have you singing along in an instant.
Almost burying the blues roots of their earlier albums beneath that hefty edge that makes the Black Keys the Black Keys, they seem set on pushing those lead-footed tones to faster and faster speeds, and if ‘Lonely Boy‘ is anything to go by, their mission has been accomplished and will have anyone between nine and ninety dancing like a maniac in any kind of space they can find.
All in all, it’s a treat for the ears, ticking all of the right boxes when it comes to groove and generally oozing cool, telling us that ten years into their musical endeavours, the duo are still on top form with a chemistry and an energy that continues to defy comparison.
(Alisha Riley)