Delta Kream

Picking up largely neglected threads from their early work, the album solidifies the Akron duo as one of the most vital and credible blues-rock bands active today.

The now hugely successful pair can’t perhaps sing Burnside’s Poor Boy a Long Way from Home with any great factual accuracy nowadays, but they sound thoroughly in their comfort zone and utterly in their element.

Delta Kream is a soundtrack for those hot and heady nights of late summer. It’s brilliant.

The Ohio duo's mastery of the unmathematical Hill Country style oozes here from every groove. [Jun 2021, p.87]

You can't turn the clock back, of course, but in "Sad Days And Lonely Nights" you completely understand how the simple groove and ringing of the strings might act as a revivifying tonic. [Jun 2021, p.23]

It often feels less like a distinct set of songs than a deliberate mood: a slow-rolling swagger through a bygone era, gilded by the band's own faithful imitations. That's bad news for hook-happy fans, maybe, but a living history lesson too.

There are a few misses, however. ’Do The Romp’ is sheer bar room bluster, while ‘Coal Black Mattie’ seems to stray too far into the line of being merely copyist. Yet when it works, it certainly works – potent and atmospheric ‘Delta Kream’ undoubtedly has its heart in the right place, while the core material stands as some of the most addictive elements of modern blues songwriting.

Laconic and acidly textured, Delta Kream is a perfect balance of the Black Keys' lo-fi swagger and keen ear for the Mississippi blues traditions that inspired it.

This casual record isn’t meant to change the world, it is just a deep dive into the tunes the duo love; less a major release than a passion project but by adding Deaton and Brown to these sessions The Black Keys blues workouts on Delta Kream go down smooth.