Like many couples in a long-term relationship, the Black Keys decided to look outside their union for inspiration when it came time to record Ohio players, the band's twelfth album. No strangers to extracurricular collaborations—guitarist/vocalist Dan Auerbach practically lives in his Easy Eye Sound, producing records for Robert Finley, Hermanos Gutiérrez, Marcus King, Early James, and Shannon and the Clams in recent years—the band has not brought additional musicians into the studio since reviving their 2019 collaboration with “Let's party”a back-to-basics platter that seemed to reject the psychedelic haze engulfing 2014 Turn Blue.
Turn Blue, like many of the albums the Black Keys released on Nonesuch between 2008 and 2014, was co-produced by Danger Mouse, a collaborator who helped Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney move far beyond the band's grimy garage roots. – blues. After working with Danger Mouse, the Black Keys prized production—the regular, natural sound of a record—as much as the song itself, an aesthetic that carried over to Ohio players. Aptly avoiding the extended exploration of their Obama-era albums, the Black Keys draw on the bag of tricks they've developed over the course of their career to create interesting juxtapositions of familiar sounds.
Sonically speaking, there is nothing Ohio players which feels unexpected. It's a bustling concoction of fuzzy riffs, funky rhythms, sweet harmonies, tart hooks and spectral keys, the kind of revamped retro-rock that's not only the band's stock in trade but also Auerbach's signature as a producer. Even the presence of rappers Lil Noid and Juicy J in “Candy and Her Friends” and “Paper Crown” recalls Blakrocthe duo's foray into rap-rock in 2009, but the fact that the Black Keys have explicitly carved out space for hip-hop Ohio players it goes a long way in explaining why the album doesn't feel like a remaster. Rather than siloing their interests, the group synthesizes them, making a record that's vibrant, fresh and colorful.
To this end, Beck is the critical partner Ohio players. Half of the album's fourteen songs feature contributions from Beck, and his presence is felt throughout, whether it's his lead vocals on “Paper Crown” or how the record sounds halfway through among his dense collage Odelay and its living neo-soul Midnight Vultures. The Black Keys may follow Beck's lead—the austere “Candy and Her Friends” bears his imprint but is the only song Auerbach and Carney wrote on their own—but they never give the impression of ironic distance. There's a reason why a sumptuous arrangement of William Bell's Stax classic “I Forgot to Be Your Lover” is in the middle of Ohio players: Beneath all the stylish fanfare, the Black Keys remain anchored in classic soul.
