The Black Keys have been going through it lately. Last year, the veteran rockers canceled an entire arena tour because of low ticket sales, and they also faced criticism for playing an "America Loves Crypto" concert in their Akron hometown, which was funded by shady Republican operatives attempting to swing a Senatorial election and which looked very silly. Also, the band's album Ohio Players was their worst-selling since 2006. Rather than going into hiding after that series of humiliations, the Black Keys addressed all of it, saying that they "got fucked" by previous manager Irving Azoff, who they fired, and basically admitting that they played the crypto show because they needed the paycheck. Now, the band is back out on tour, and they've just announced another album.
Back when they gave that interview about their disastrous 2024, the Black Keys unveiled their single "The Night Before." That was the first single from No Rain, No Flowers, which the band formally unveiled today. The album is coming in August, and they made it with help from big-deal songwriters Rick Nowels and Daniel Tashian, as well as the former Roots keyboardist and once-dominant rap producer Scott Storch.
In a press release, Patrick Carney says, "We wanted to go straight to the source -- into the room with people known for their songwriting. Daniel Tashian was one of the first people I met after moving to Nashville, and we’ve been fans of Scott Storch forever." Dan Auerbach says, "I had worked with Rick Nowels on Lana Del Rey’s Ultraviolence. We’d never really collaborated with a keyboard player or someone who writes on piano the way he does, but it clicked immediately... This whole album was really labored over with a lot of love. We hope you feel that."
On the title track, Auerbach sings about how sometimes things go wrong and there's nothing you can do: "Baby, the damage is done! It won't be long till we're back in the sun!" Your man is really looking on the sunny side of life. The track has a kind of disco pulse, and it might be the least guitar-centric Black Keys song I've ever heard. Below, check out that song and the album's tracklist.
TRACKLIST:
01 "No Rain, No Flowers"
02 "The Night Before"
03 "Babygirl"
04 "Down To Nothing"
05 "On Repeat"
06 "Make You Mine"
07 "Man On A Mission"
08 "Kiss It"
09 "All My Life"
10 "A Little Too High"
11 "Neon Moon"
No Rain, No Flowers is out 8/8 on Easy Eye/Warner Bros.
