The Black Keys are coming back with a new album titled Ohio Players, an LP heralded as the duo’s most collaborative to date.
Ahead of Ohio Players’ April 5 release, Patrick Carney and Dan Auerbach have shared their first single, “Beautiful People (Stay High),” which they co-wrote with Beck and Dan “The Automator” Nakamura.
“We had this epiphany: ‘We can call our friends to help us make music.’ 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,” Carney said in a statement. “What we wanted to accomplish with this record was make something that was fun. And something that most bands 20 years into their career don’t make, which is an approachable, fun record that is also cool.”
Other contributors to the band’s 12th studio album include producer Greg Kurstin, Noel Gallagher, and more. “No matter who we work with, it never feels like we’re sacrificing who we are,” Auerbach added.
“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.”
The Black Keys will debut “Beautiful People (Stay High)” live Saturday night when they perform at iHeartRadio’s ALTer Ego concert at the Hondo Center in Anaheim.
The Akron duo named the album Ohio Players, available to preorder now, after nearby Dayton, Ohio’s legendary funk group. The LP follows 2022’s Dropout Boogie.
“We’d never worked harder to make a record,” Auerbach said in a statement. “It’s never taken us this long to make an album. We took our time and did it right.”
Ohio Players won’t be the Black Keys’ only release this year: Their career-spanning documentary This is a Film About The Black Keys was recently announced on the slate of the 2024 SXSW Festival.
