Album Review: The Black Keys – No Rain, No Flowers
3 min read
The Black Keys’ No Rain, No Flowers lands as a testament to resilience. It follows a turbulent year of cancelled tours, management shake ups and the lukewarm reception of Ohio Players. Rather than retreating, the band has taken all the chaos, tossed it in the blender with some sunshine and come back swinging with an album which colours outside their usual blues-rock lines. Sure you still get some of The Black Keys’ classic fuzzy guitar charm, but there’s a whole new array of sounds: soul, disco, smooth pop, even a bit of psychedelia
The title track, No Rain, No Flowers sets the tone with crisp drums, buoyant guitar riffs and the sound of a band shaking off last year’s mess. The Night Before is all swing, swagger and the kind of chorus you’ll turn the speakers up for on a road trip. Then comes Babygirl, strutting in with funky piano and what feels like a cheeky wink, like the Rolling Stones decided to crash a ’70s pop party. Down to Nothing slows it all down with a moody organ backdrop and gospel-style percussion. It brings to the record a kind of Sunday morning melancholy. On Repeat lives up to its name, breezy and hummable, a groove that’s weirdly addictive.
Mid-record, The Black Keys’ offer some smoother musical elements in Make You Mine. This track could slide right into a Philly soul playlist, all lush strings and honeyed harmonies. Man on a Mission then yanks you far down the other end of the sonic spectrum into a gritty guitar groove, probably the most comparable track on the record to the band’s earlier discography and ironically a particular favourite track of mine. As for Kiss It? Well, it’s a ray of what feels like retro-pop sunshine. The kind of song that makes you forget your coffee’s gone cold because you’re too busy with your head in the clouds. All My Life takes you somewhere full of smooth disco groove, not in a glittering ball kind of way but a late night, city lights kind. The last two tracks are what you’d find yourself listening to as the sun sets. A Little Too High is breezy foot-tapping Americana, the kind of song you’d hear drifting out of a porch radio somewhere in the south. Neon Moon closes No Rain, No Flowers in a gentle, country-tinged haze and hints at something a little bittersweet. From the band’s perspective, this really does feel like the appropriate tone to round off this year’s album with.
While long time blues-rock fans might miss that raw edge that once defined The Black Keys’ sound, No Rain, No Flowers brims with a certain warmth, an easiness and the kind of hook-heavy energy in which you’ll find yourself humming to all hours of the day. It’s a record that feels more like an afternoon cruise rather than a midnight joyride and maybe that’s the point, it isn’t about pushing to the edge, it’s about the band catching their breath and letting the groove do the talking.
