Band prepping eighth LP set for release next month

The Black Keys drop their eighth studio album, the Danger Mouse-produced Turn Blue, on May 13th, and now, the blues-rock heavyweights have shared the LP’s title track, a slow-burning slice of psychedelia. “When the music is done and all the lights are low,” sings frontman Dan Auerbach over a breezy electric guitar riff, synth-strings and a rumbling bassline. “I will remember the times when love would really glow.” Drummer Patrick Carney premiered the track yesterday on his SiriusXM show Serious Boredom.

“Turn Blue” is the second track the duo have shared from the album, following the hypnotic “Fever,” and both tracks exemplify the LP’s overall psychedelic vibe. The band recorded Turn Blue in Los Angeles, Michigan and Auerbach’s Nashville studio, working for the third time with it-producer Danger Mouse (following 2008’s Attack & Release and 2011’s El Camino).

“We were this-is-your-brain-on-drugs fried,” Auerbach said of the band’s pre-album mindset in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. The catalyst of their new direction came with a seven-minute breakup epic titled “Weight of Love,” which features a series of heavy guitar solos and steered the band away from the idea of writing singles. “After that, it was like, ‘We can do whatever we want – it’ll be all right,'” Auerbach continued.

In the same interview, Auerbach also teased a few other new songs, including the Creedence-style rave-up “Gotta Get Away,” which the band wrote in a whopping 10 minutes. “It made me a little bit uncomfortable because it was so classic-sounding, but we couldn’t deny it,” he says. “At this point, there are absolutely no rules.”