Hit blues rock band The Black Keys have announced their eighth studio album, Turn Blue, set to come out in May on Nonesuch Records. It’s not the only thing the band has on its plate; they’ve released a new single and are kicking off a European festival tour this summer, after first making a pit stop at the Hangout Music Festival in Alabama.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
It’s an album produced jointly by Danger Mouse and Black Keys members Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney and The Black Keys have been vague about its title, saying Turn Blue could refer to suffocation, sadness, numbness from extreme cold, Ghoulardi (a late-night talk show host in Cleveland during the 1960’s) or just all of the above. It comes on the heels of the band’s worldwide hit 2011 release El Camino, and 2010’s Brothers, which produced hit songs “Everlasting Light,” “Tighten Up,” and “Howlin For You.” The Black Keys have taken home six Grammys and a huge group of other international awards, gaining widespread fame and becoming an alternative standard after the release of Brothers.
Turn Blue was primarily recorded last summer, at Sunset Sound in Hollywood, although additional work on the record was done in Nashville in the early months of 2014. Drummer Patrick Carney says the band tried a few new things this time around, so as not to produce quite the same sound as they have before. “We are always trying to push ourselves when we make a record—not repeat our previous work but not abandon it either. On this record, we let the songs breathe and explored moods, textures and sounds.” Although its release is still more than a month away, the band has released Turn Blue‘s first single, “Fever.” A punchy, fresh track that’s catchy and dance-able, “Fever,” still holds true to the bluesy style that made The Black Keys famous, but adds a backline that gives it a harder beat.
The release of the album kicks off The Black Keys multi-country tour, with almost all of the performances centered in European countries.
Tour Dates
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May 16-18: Gulf Shore, AL – Hangout Music Fest
June 20: Neuhausen Ob Eck, Germany – Southside Festival
June 22: Scheessel, Germany – Hurricane Festival
June 24: Zagreb, Croatia – Inmusic Festival
June 27: St. Gallen, Switzerland – Open Air St. Gallen
June 28: Beuningen, Holland – Down the Rabbit Hole
June 29: Glastonbury, U.K. – Glastonbury
July 2: Gdansk, Poland – Open’er Festival
July 4: Pas-de-Calais, France – Main Square Festival
July 5: Werchter, Belgium – Festivalpark Werchter
July 6: Belfort, France – Les Eurockennes
July 8: Rome, Italy – Rock in Rome
July 11: Lisbon, Portugal – Optimus Alive
July 12: Bilbao, Spain – Bilbao-BBK Live
July 15: Nimes, France – Festival de Nimes
July 17: Les Vieilles Charrues, France – Les Vieilles Charrues
July 20: Suffolk, U.K. – Latitude Festival
Turn Blue Track Listing
1. Weight of Love
2. In Time
3. Turn Blue
4. Fever
5. Year in Review
6. Bullet in the Brain
7. It’s Up to You Now
8. Waiting on Words
9. 10 Lovers
10. In Our Prime
11. Gotta Get Away
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