Dropout Boogie follows quickly on the heels of
Delta Kream, the 2021 blues covers album by
the Black Keys, which itself wasn't far removed from
Let's Rock, the 2019 LP that announced their return to action after a half-decade hiatus. Such a flurry of activity is not uncommon for either member of the duo, whether together or apart, yet it does suggest guitarist
Dan Auerbach and drummer
Patrick Carney have revived the spark that waned somewhere in the mid-2010s. Certainly,
Dropout Boogie feels open and lively in a way
the Black Keys haven't in a while. Maintaining the lean, efficient contours of
Let's Rock -- once again, nearly all of the songs clock in well under four minutes --
the Black Keys jam a bunch of sounds and ideas into these tight spaces, finding fresh spins on their blues boogie, throwback soul, retro-pop, and arena psychedelia. The band also have found space for a number of collaborations, too, inviting
ZZ Top's
Billy F. Gibbons to lend his signature snarl on "Good Love" and enlisting
Greg Cartwright of
Reigning Sound and
Angelo Petraglia of
Kings of Leon to round out "Wild Child." Ironically, "Wild Child" is one of the few songs that feels relatively self-contained on
Dropout Boogie, as if they were consciously channeling the spirit of "Lonely Boy." Elsewhere,
the Black Keys have figured out ways to open up their trademarks, such as when the Delta shuffle of "For the Love of Money" gives way to swirling vocal harmonies, or how "Baby I'm Coming Home" flips a nod to
the Allman Brothers Band's "Midnight Rider" into AOR territory, or how the mellow groove on "How Long" gets accentuated by gently psychedelic flair. As the record swiftly spins through these production and melodic hooks, it gives the impression of a jukebox filled with a bunch of excavated gems, and that's not a bad comfort zone for
the Black Keys at all. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine