The Black Keys have announced their new album, Ohio Players, which will be out April 5 via Nonesuch. The album teams Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney with a bunch of collaborators including Dan “The Automator” Nakamura, Beck, Noel Gallagher, Greg Kurstin, and more.
“We had this epiphany: ‘We can call our friends to help us make music,’” says Carney. “It’s funny because we both write songs with other people – Dan all the time [as a solo artist and producer], me when I’m producing a record. That’s what we do.”
“No matter who we work with, it never feels like we’re sacrificing who we are,” adds Auerbach. “It only feels like it adds some special flavor. We just expanded that palette with people we wanted to work with. We were there to support them and their ideas, to do whatever we could to see that moment flourish. But when it came time to finish the album, it was just Pat and me. We’d never worked harder to make a record. It’s never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.”
The first single from the album is “Beautiful People (Stay High)” which was co-produced by Dan the Automator and features Beck on backing vocals and keyboards. You can watch the video for that, ad check out Ohio Players‘ cover art, below.
The Black Keys will play the Sundance Film festival this month on January 19 & 21 at Marquis Park City, while new documentary This is a Film About The Black Keys will get its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival in March.
