BLACK KEYS - Peaches!

Patrick Carney try not to do the same fill challenge

– A random user on Album Of The Year, before the album came out

Internet irony aside about the unmistakable (sometimes far too unmistakable) sound of the Black Keys, the new "Peaches!" was born almost by chance out of an outlet for Auerbach and Carney, who threw themselves into endless, feverish jams during a very tough period for both of them, especially for the former, who was caring for his father as he battled cancer, his condition worsening ever more quickly. The result is ten classics rooted in blues and r&b, reinterpreted by the duo with a sound that harks back to the sophomore effort “Thickfreakness” and to the excellent “Brothers“, moving between flashes of swamp-country, garage flourishes, psychedelic undertones and the inevitable nods to blues-rock's cornerstones, all wrapped up in striking visuals awash in retro colours.

The engines warm up on the horns of the excellent opener "Where There's Smoke, There's Fire", shifting gears on the sketched-out, swaying guitar riffs of "Stop Arguing Over Me", which echo ZZ Top. The journey continues on a trail of organ notes and with the excellent electric guitar unleashed on the classic, dry delta blues of "Who's Been Foolin' You", before slowing down on the crooked harmonica and the rougher, faintly psych tones of "It's A Dream", sliding through the haze of a wild night on the breezy, catchy "Tomorrow Night".

You got to lose

You can’t win all the time

Well, you know, pretty baby

I see trouble comin’ down the line

The B-side of the record lowers the bar slightly, but not by much, and is effectively opened by the dynamic key track "You Got To Lose". Originally by Ike Turner, the song is revisited here starting from Earl Hooker's version, which lends its full-bodied blues sound, and from George Thorogood & The Destroyers' rendition, which contributes the guitar grit and the rock'n'roll edge.

Things heat up slightly (so to speak), thanks to the stretched-out instrumental passages of Jessie Mae Hemphill's "Tell Me You Love Me", continuing with the building drumming of Dr. Feelgood's "She Does It Right", and the raw riffs of R.L. Burnside's "Fireman Ring The Bell". The long closing track, meanwhile, could only be a tribute to the Akron duo's chief guiding light, namely Junior Kimbrough, with his "Nobody But You Baby".

The Black Keys' "Peaches!" represents the need for an on the road escape out of time: it was made to do good for those who listen to it and for those who recorded it and will play it live, not to reinvent the wheel, and ultimately (just this once) that's perfectly fine.

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24/05/2026