‘She’s Long Gone’ and ‘Black Mud’ have the traditional Keys sound, heavy rock guitar riffs with a roll flair. Both tracks have a psychedelic feel to them, ‘Tighten Up’ mainly down to producing by Danger Mouse but the guitars on ‘Howlin’ for You’ have both electric and Western-esque riffs. ‘Howlin’ for You’ in a similar vein to ‘Tighten Up’, features the darker edge we’re used to hearing from The Keys – but this track has the classic bluesy rock roots from their previous work. The track is led by whistling melodies with complimenting guitar riffs, it’s a darker sound similar to the albums before it but has a fresher, polished edge. ‘Tighten Up’ produced by Danger Mouse, is the album’s lead single, the band’s most successful at that point.
The music is not out of the ordinary for the band now, yet it sounds vaguely more upbeat and groove-driven than anything they had produced prior – making it a perfect opener for this album. Kicking off with ‘Everlasting Light’ led by Auerbach’s falsetto vocals featuring harmonies and kick drum beat acting as the back bone of the track, courtesy of Carney. Carney went in a different direction with a new band until the two resolved the conflict, eventually resulting in the creation of ‘Brothers’.īeginning as a blues rock band, heavy on the blues – this album was a turning point into an unknowingly (at the time) commercial sound with soul influences, resulting in an album chock full of Keys classics. After the release of ‘Attack and Release’ The Keys took a break in 2009 – Dan Auerbach worked on his solo debut ‘Keep It Hid’, without consulting Patrick Carney. The release was the first mainstream success for the duo since their formation in 2001, yet it almost didn’t come to fruition. Brothers, the breakthrough album for Ohio natives The Black Keys, turned ten at the end of last year.