Independent review

I have never, even in the best years, been a fan of the duo composed of Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney. And meanwhile, the "Black Keys" are releasing their ninth album already. Starting from 2010, any new long-play of theirs invariably gets into the Billboard Top 3, and the previous record Turn Blue reached second place in the UK as well. But it should be noted that, despite topping the hit parades, sales of Brothers and El Camino significantly surpass Turn Blue. To me, the previous disc is a clear regression. The question is not about sales, but about the level of the material. If Brothers and El Camino were the top and the highest point in the duo's career, then Turn Blue is one of many, while being inferior even to some early relatively passable records. That is, after an obvious upward movement, a clear descent back or even lower began. Of course, a fan will say that it's all not like that! They have become different! They are experimenting. And I believe that they just don't have much left to say. The experiments are simple and consist of the radio-format sound à la britpop. There are almost no sensible riffs, pop choruses and hackneyed (albeit recognizable moves) do not save it. No, of course, there are worthy things on the album. The opener Shine a little light is actually excellent, although it is also quite derivative, but this is that case when you can look at a painting forever. If before, even on the best records, it seemed to me that BK were a kind of copy of Jack White (to a greater or lesser extent), then now not even that is left. Is this good? It seems not. It cannot be said that the collective had its own face, but it managed to imitate and emulate older colleagues in the garage blues-rock industry periodically very qualitatively. Now, these are just little songs, even if sometimes successful ones. It reminded me of something of the new Muse album. It will sell, it will make it on the radio - everyone is happy, only I won't even remember its title in a few months.

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