If you haven’t heard of The Arcs or listened to their debut album, Dreamily, Yours, the time is now! The Arcs is the side project for the lead singer from The Black Keys, Dan Auerbach.

While maintaining pretty true to his vocal range (and distinct growl), the album paints more psychedelic rock rainbows than garage rock fire, more nature’s child than a lonely boy.

It’s a welcome departure for Auerbach, and something I wish The Keys had done themselves as I tend to think too much of their music is too synonymous. Auerbach himself said the album is a bit more weird and trippy than anything he’s done prior.

For proof, Listen to the first 30 seconds of “Velvet Ditch”:

I doubt you would ever think, “This has got to be The Black Keys!” Instead, it sounds like there’s about to be a shootout at the O.K. Corral right before a hip-hop producer takes the beat over.

Lyrically, the album reads like a confessional. Auerbach admits his own faults (that “Pistol Made of Bones” is his own) and the inherent corruption that fame and success have played in his life all the while feeling its jading effect.

“I heard I lost my self control,” Auerbach chides in “Outta My Mind,” the most Black Keys-sounding track, “But everything I did just went and turned to gold / I love the pictures on the wall / Reminding me of what I lost to get it all / Outta my mind / But I made it.”

One of my favorite tracks, “Put a Flower in Your Pocket,” delightfully grates on your eardrums as Auerbach rebukes the fakes and haters, “They may pretend they like you / But man’s best friend will bite you / Just for fun / If they’re gunning for you baby / You’ve already won.”

Auerbach may have made it, but “Stay In My Corner” sees the end, and he just hopes his baby is still there with him.

The falsetto he hits in the beginning of "Stay In My Corner" brings Brittany Howard of Alabama Shakes to mind. In fact, the guitar and overall sounds reminds me a good deal of "Gimme All Your Love":

Are the first few seconds of “Chains of Love” an homage or a dig at Jack White?

I may be nitpicking ridiculously, but don't forget that Jack White and The Keys have some weird history. Specifically, White stated in a leaked email that he didn't want his child to go to the same school as Auerbach's! He also called The Keys watered down garbage. So maybe I'm just hearing things, but either way, I hope Jack White doesn't hear this.

Anyways, "Chains of Love" is still one of my favorite songs on the album, sliding away in echoes of pianos and Auerbach’s trademark voice and some great backing vocals.

How beautifully sad is “Searching the Blue?”

"War is over now / I feel my mind returning / Carried on a cloud / Every nerve was burning over you / I never had a need at all for anyone / Anyone other than you / But now that's through / Sold fool...Couldn't I have a clue? / Searching the blue."

What an ending to an album.

Throughout the LP there's a smidgen or a dash of The Black Keys sound to keep their huge fan base very happy while bringing in the fringe of other genres. The album flows seamlessly and the only mistake is the strange "Come & Go." Otherwise, this is a fantastic album, an album I like more overall than a number of the past The Black Keys albums.

Overall: B+