Black Keys Mellow Out On "Weight of Love"

Wide open spaces with a toke or three in between about captures Black Keys "Weight of Love." From the jump your ears are held captive under spell of drums dropped in softly as if to utter "Come on in the water's fine." You can't ask for much better from the guitars on display here. The ever simmering boil allows you access to peak around any and all dark corners. Truth be told there likely isn't a chemical substance you couldn't peace out to while listening to "Black and Blue". Dan Auerbach excels here in his role as ringmaster for the drugged out circus at hand. I bow before Dan's adept display with both the stringed instrument and his voice box. Dan tells the tale of a mysterious vamp who according to him was "always up to somethin'." Payback will apparently be swift for her according to the lyrics since nobody is going to want to protect this chick. Dan pleads with the girl not to give herself away to the weight of love, swooning atmospherics allowing the central flame to rise higher. Deliberate gets you the name of this game. How does "Weight of Love" soar to the heights it eventually reaches? Guitar and drum weave well together. A definite forest wilderness environment. Toast marshmallows around the campfire to this charmer. You'll excuse me for the wealth of description I'm employing to speak about this effort. See what listening to the song while trying to conjure up content gets you? However for you, my tolerant blog audience I soldier on so the connection you and I have won't fade away in the breeze. Unlike "Fever" which gave you a hurdy gurdy whimsy slant, "Weight of Love" draws you into its web awash in seriousness. First one to blink gets one right between the eyes. I appreciate how deeply Dan characterizes the female lead. You'd likely be mystified to encounter her on the dance floor mentioned in the second stanza. She's out there with the people who dance all night because they don't want to be lonely. What do we call her in terms of a character identity. Possibly she's a ghostly apparition. She may even be the drugged out product of all the inhaled marijuana alluded to earlier. Whatever your stance on it "Weight of Love" does feel...well...weighty. Chalk that up mainly to Patrick Carney whose drums carry that level of heaviness. Then again since garage rock is one of the genre handles they go by, heavy works as well as anything in terms of description. Black Keys have strayed a far piece from the chuckle fest humor that's evident in the video for "Tighten Up". If you haven't flashed back to that 2010 diamond I suggest you take that time to take some of the world's weight off your shoulders. Returning to "Weight of Love", it tips the scales into the win column due to caveman moodiness that requires no Tarzan themed loincloth to appreciate.