In big news for fans of The Black Keys, the band has returned with their long awaited ninth studio album, Let’s Rock.

Their first album in five years is a flashback to the straightforward rock of the singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney’s early days as a band.

“When we’re together we are The Black Keys, that’s where that real magic is, and always has been since we were sixteen,” Dan Auerbach says.

Let’s Rock was written, tracked live, and produced by Auerbach and Carney at Easy Eye Sound studio in Nashville and features backing vocals from Leisa Hans and Ashley Wilcoxson.

“The record is like a homage to electric guitar,” says Patrick Carney. “We took a simple approach and trimmed all the fat like we used to.”

Since their last album together, both Auerbach and Carney have been creative forces behind a number of wide-ranging artists.

Dan Auerbach formed the Easy Eye Sound record label, named after his Nashville studio, in 2017, with the release of his second solo album, Waiting on a Song.

Since its launch, Easy Eye Sound has become home to a wide range of artists including Yola, Shannon & The Clams, Dee White, Shannon Shaw, Sonny Smith, Robert Finley, and The Gibson Brothers; it also has released the posthumous album by Leo Bud Welch as well as previously unreleased material by Link Wray.

Patrick Carney has produced and recorded new music with artists such as Calvin Johnson, Michelle Branch, Damns of the West, Tobias Jesso, Jr., Jessy Wilson, Tennis, Repeat Repeat, Wild Belle, Sad Planets, Turbo Fruits, and more.  He also created the theme music for the Netflix TV show BoJack Horseman with his late uncle, Ralph Carney.