As Michael Caine famously said in The Dark Knight, “you either die a hero or live long enough to become the villain.” Musical history is littered with examples of bands who, despite earnest attempts, could never recapture the magic that made them successful— for many fans, The Black Keys are one such group, with each of the duo’s studio albums in the last decade releasing to increasingly mixed reviews. After the backlash that 2024’s ‘Ohio Players’ received, and after Auerbach and Carney were forced to reschedule their entire North American tour later that year, the band once again have something to prove: that The Black Keys do still have that rock’n’roll fire in them. New record ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ is a meaningful step in the right direction in that regard, even if the electrifying sound of ‘Brothers’ or ‘El Camino’ remains a distant memory.

If there’s a single element that sets the modern Black Keys albums apart from their classic counterparts, it’s the overly polished production that chokes ‘No Rain, No Flowers.’ The duo have been slowly cleaning up their act since the beginning, with the raucous guitar tones and loose sound design of early projects ‘The Big Come Up’ and ‘Thickfreakness’ giving way to the stunning work that Danger Mouse put into 2011’s ‘El Camino’— fourteen years later, the posts have continued to move, though Auerbach is only scoring own goals these days. There’s a sickly, syrupy texture to the record that seeks to shove cuts like ‘The Night Before’ and ‘A Little Too High’ into the back of a Jet2Holiday advert, rather than onto classic rock radio— Carney’s drums have never sounded so sterile as this, and he’s not the only one suffering here. Somewhere along the road, Dan Auerbach seems to have forgotten what made his early work behind the mixing desk so satisfying: ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ is drowning in reverb, reducing many otherwise solid moments to washes of bland, colourless hold music.

Of course, fans didn’t fall in love with this rock duo on the basis of sound design alone— The Black Keys are, quite obviously, not Aphex Twin or Flying Lotus. Auerbach and Carney gained international notoriety because they wrote great songs: thank goodness, then, that ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ brings its fair share of highlights to the table. Despite attempts to neuter the song in post, single ‘Man On A Mission’ is a welcome return to the sharp, groovy rock’n’roll we’ve been craving. The cut relishes in swagger, building from skulking verses into a punchy chorus and an absolute barrage of roaring guitars in its bridge— the track is almost reminiscent of Black Sabbath in its best moments, reviving an edge that The Black Keys seemed to have sanded off years ago. The following ‘Kiss It’ carries a similar (albeit not quite as boisterous) momentum as the band return to a comfortable, confident pocket: there’s nothing wrong with playing it safe every once in a while, and some of the most enthralling moments on ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ come when Auerbach and Carney are simply delivering the classic rock’n’roll experience they once had down to a science.

Outside of those choice examples, this new body of work is actually an uncharacteristically low-key affair— The Black Keys have reined themselves in this time, to mixed results. ‘The Night Before’ may be one of the most uninspired cuts in the group’s catalogue, seeming most at home in the credits of a low-budget teen comedy: the duo seem half-asleep here on a writing front, as if this were a first draft that somehow conned its way into being the first single. Things don’t pick up much for the following ‘Babygirl’ either, with the song’s staccato piano lines, blown-out vocal effects and poorly mixed shakers sitting together about as comfortably as ex-partners at couple’s therapy— though the track’s sentiment may be sweet, it just isn’t enough to save a disaster such as this. Even despite the apparent pressure that The Black Keys are under to reinvent themselves, a disappointing amount of ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ drifts around on musical autopilot: you’d have a hard time arguing that Auerbach and Carney were spreading their wings creatively on such ho-hum cuts as ‘Make You Mine’ and ‘All My Life.’

When the stars do align though, ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ is fully capable of finding its own groove: inconsistent as it may be, the record has just enough gems tucked away to make this something of an upswing in the group’s career trajectory. Final single ‘On Repeat’ captured our attention from the off, with its purposeful percussive feel and silky smooth melodies instantly taking us back to a project like 2014’s ‘Turn Blue’— time and time again, The Black Keys prove that there’s still some gold dust tucked up their sleeves. ‘Down to Nothing’ similarly succeeds, using its charming hammond organs and excellent bass lines to craft a wistful, wondrous mood. Auerbach even seems to use the track’s lyrics as a promise to the listener that, despite everything, he’s still got it.

“Behind the clouds, beyond the stars

Above the crowds in some lonely bar

I'll meet you there, I swear I will

Because I care, and I’ve got time to kill

Please stop running: I'm back down to nothing”

Criticisms aside, there’s something quite charming about the sentimental melodies of the title track, or of cute closer ‘Neon Moon.’ Often, it feels like The Black Keys are desperately trying to reconnect with the fans— whenever they succeed, all is forgiven.

The title of this new record from The Black Keys feels very purposeful: after years of inconsistency— the ‘rain,’ as it were— this release is the ‘flowers’ that fans have been clamouring for. In many ways, Auerbach and Carney have hit the nail on the head, delivering a fair few songs bright enough, and fun enough, to soundtrack your summer. Between those highlights though, the duo still can’t seem to keep their foot on the gas. ‘No Rain, No Flowers’ isn’t quite the bold return to form that we, and many others, were hoping for: if you squint, though, there is some fun to be had here.