Dan Auerbach became best known as singer and guitarist of
The Black Keys, the no-nonsense blues-rock band with which he toured the world endlessly. That Auerbach looks beyond blues and rock musically, we already knew from his two solo albums as well as The Arcs. With this his heavily 60s-inspired side project, the 43-year-old American is now - more than seven years after debut Yours, Dreamily - also
… ready for a second album. It is a tribute to multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift, who passed away in 2018 but can still be heard here. It's not a heavy album with that, by the way. Anyone listening to Electrophobic Chronic without prior knowledge will find it hard to suppress a smile. The songs sound playful and varied, but generally unremarkable. Among the standouts are the dreamy Heaven Is A Place, the soul-grinder A Man Will Do No Wrong equipped with a blissful organ and the Lenny Kravitz-like rocker Behind The Eyes. Especially for Auerbach-adepts nonetheless. (RME)more
