Album Review
3-5 Stars At least, based on this evidence, they seem to be enjoying themselves.
Reviewer: Joe Goggins
Released: 8th August 2025
Label: Easy Eye / Warner
The Black Keys faced relentless drama in 2024, and if you followed the situation, you’ll get an idea of what they intended with the title of this, their 13th studio release. If there’s a silver lining from last year’s challenging times, it’s that they managed to record another album, maintaining a prolific streak that has seen them release five LPs in the last seven years.
The cancellation of an overly ambitious US arena tour last year, along with its legal aftermath, may have relaxed the duo a bit. Their gradual evolution from a gritty Ohio blues band to genuine indie rock anthem creators has been well-documented, yet their recent work suggested a desire to return to their Akron roots: 2021’s ‘Delta Kream’ was a covers album of Hill Country blues, while ‘Let’s Rock’ and ‘Dropout Boogie’ embraced rough-and-ready riffs as well.
Similar to last year’s ‘Ohio Players’, ‘No, Rain, No Flowers’ is playfully structured, featuring hip-shaking grooves (‘Babygirl’), polished, jazz-inspired references to the breakout album ‘Brothers’ (‘Down to Nothing’), and light, hook-driven rock (‘Kiss It’; ‘Man on a Mission’). Furthermore, there’s room for them to revisit their carefree style, particularly on the blissful ‘A Little Too High’. The quick pace of releases that the band has adopted in recent years has sometimes led to less stringent quality control, but at least, from this evidence, they are clearly having a good time.
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