The Black Keys
No Rain, No Flowers
** out of *****
On last years, Ohio Players, The Black Keys shifted out of their rinse and repeat blues rock style to make a successfully wide ranging effort that touched on hip hop, Beck collaborations and poppy outings all mixed in with their bread and blues butter.
It sounded like the band was truly having fun in the studio, unfortunately things fell apart for them almost immediately after releasing the record. They were forced to cancel an upcoming arena tour and fired their management team. Without pausing, the band dove back into the studio as No Rain, No Flowers arrives just a year after all of that. One might assume it would be a retreat to their classic style, that is not the case.
Instead, the band doubled down on their adult pop/alternative tendencies working with songwriters Daniel Tashian (Kacey Musgraves), Rick Nowels (Lana Del Rey), and oddly Scott Storch. That list of collaborators is telling as the band moves clearly into modern pop territory throughout the album. The opening tracks (the title effort and the equally bland "Night Before") make this abundantly clear, gone are the R.L. Burnside riffs and in their place are modern U2 copping grandiose.
There are light touches of country and formulaic 70's soul, sometimes at the same time, such as on the swaying "On Repeat", the piano based "Make You Mine" and the arena ready "la-la-la" laced closer "Neon Moon". These songs are successful in their vein, they just seem too polished and dull, lacking charm and a spark. Lyrically it as if a semi-cool chorus was thought up and things were unimaginatively filled in around that.
The band pushes some breezy disco elements as well, but never with any real conviction. The piano, a major instrument on this record, starts the odd bumping "Babygirl" while the pulsing "All My Life" could easily be sold to commercials with it's smooth groove but lack of any real staying power.
The one true bright spot on the album is when Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney work with Thomas Brenneck (Charles Bradley) going for more of a Daptone-like sound. The bumping with a fuzzy twang of "A Little Too High" results in a sweet excursion, but it is "Down To Nothing" a sultry grooving soul burner, with a wicked guitar solo that saves the album. Sounding like an outtake from their Turn Blue days, the track bobs and weaves with seducing charm, while offering the best singing from Auerbach on this record.
It seems odd that when the chips were down The Black Keys moved towards sounding like Coldplay instead of their blues rock roots, but that is the case for the majority of the lackluster No Rain, No Flowers.
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