So I’m a bit confused. The Black Keys, as should be known to most high schoolers with a decent level of angst and any amount of desire for gruff and vagrantesque guitar riffs, are a band known for continually outputing original and highly likable, if somewhat derivative, albums at the pace of around one commercial-backing, correspondingly saddening and yet still enjoyable single every four months.
And yet. I’m fairly sure the album I’m listening to is a mislabeled record by some mediocre group trying hard to succeed by mimicking the style of Portugal. The Man, 30 Seconds to Mars, Broken Bells or, sadly, the Black Keys. Sure, they were derivative, but the point was that they always did it well. Has their scheme finally met its end?
I don’t know. “Turn Blue” is definitely listenable, but it’s not really super likable, or, more accurately, valuable. I could just listen to a different Keys album. It’s not as if there’s something new here.
And that’s the sad thing. It seems as if this was an attempt to create something different, and yet it’s largely a change not from derivation but of sources. “Turn Blue” shows a blues band now oddly tinged with disco. I’m pretty sure I heard the frontman of the Bee Gees in there somewhere. It gives the entire album a different aesthetic: instead of howling its way into your brain like an imagined drunkard with a guitar and a bass drum on a streetcorner, it presents itself as Fez of “That 70’s Show” approaching with long strides in tight polyester flare pants.
“Turn Blue” is not a bad record. I’d definitely give it a listen. Maybe it suits you more than it suits me – even then, I’ll admit that some songs were definitely enjoyable and induced some head bobbing. No, it isn’t bad; it’s disappointing. The soul that was so evident in the Black Keys seems to have evaporated along with a little bit of pigment – like a trusty black shirt that after one fateful washing finally loses its muster, it seems the Keys have turned a little blue.

5.5/10