Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach have chosen to make their latest creative outburst a collective effort, with some high-profile collaborators such as Beck Hansen and Noel Gallagher. Beck co-signed half of the album’s 14 tracks while the former Oasis man contributed to the writing of three songs.
The Beck key goes particularly well with the sound of the Black Keys, but it is on the excellent Paper Crown that it is the most obvious. The singer performs the verses himself, placing his inimitable nonchalant voice over a bass that makes his sound plummet. groove chromatic until the super catchy chorus. All this ends in a big break which finally gives way to the heavy hip-hop of Juicy J. The same artifice is used in Candy and Her Friendsthe only track composed solely by Carney and Auerbach – this time it’s Lil Noid who raps at the end of the piece, the darkest of the album.
Because the rest is resolutely joyful, especially the songs co-signed by Gallagher. Only Love Matters is certainly his finest effort, a very fresh piece driven by contagious rhythm and blues swing and nuanced by the aerial touches of guitars and piano. This is probably one of the Black Keys’ richest compositions to date.
This song, like many others on the album, is bathed in warm R’n’B sounds in the Tamla Motown sauce typical of the 1960s, and this is precisely what brings all its coherence to Ohio Players. Don’t Let Me Go, Beautiful People (Stay High), I Forgot To Be Your Lover And You’ll Pay are the other pieces where Carney and Auerbach display their unrestrained love for the sound that made Detroit shine for so long.
Elsewhere, we appreciate Carney’s tribal drumming on the dirty blues of Please Me (Till I’m Satisfied) and we smile while listening to the surf guitar of Read Em And Weap, a nice tip of the hat to the Ventures. The disc ends with Every Time You Leavea title with rich textures and resolutely modern arrangements, a foretaste of the Keys’ next offering?
Extract of Only Love Matters
Blues rock
Ohio Players
The Black Keys
Nonesuch Records