Album Of The Week: The Arcs’ Yours, Dreamily, I have a confession to make. After multiple attempts, I never got into The Black Keys’ Turn Blue that came out last year. I found a lot of the album boring without a lot of the trademark emphatic grooves from the duo’s past in their latest release. One thing I do love right now is the debut album from Dan Auerbach’s side project The Arcs. Yours, Dreamily, is a refreshing record that has renewed my faith in Auerbach’s songwriting. The aura of psychedelic blues is all over The Arcs’ sound and you’re going to love it. The Arcs originally started as an Auerbach solo release and then Leon Michels, Richard Swift, Homer Steinweiss and Nick Movshon started collaborating with Auerbach on his newly written material. It all added up to this incredible album that has spine tingling solos and a hypnotizing tone that’ll get you hooked in an instant. The vintage vibe comes from the album being recorded at legendary spots like The Sound Factory in Los Angeles and Electric Lady Studios in New York City along with award-winning record producer and audio engineer Tchad Blake on mixing duties. The Arcs will take you on a crazy musical voyage with their debut, so you better hop on in and enjoy the ride. Maybe Auerbach will be influenced by the experience of making The Arcs’ debut and it’ll carry over into the next Black Keys’ album? I personally would love to hear something close to 2008’s Attack & Release. Anyways, for a handy little guide on what to listen to before anything else, here are my top tracks off of the Album Of The Week. The intro to “Put a Flower in Your Pocket” has a lot of soul and fuzz; lyrically it presents an interesting way of handling conflicts. Another cool number is “Outta My Mind.” This one will make you dance with itty bitty little strums from Auerbach’s guitar while the bass holds everything together and gets groovy with the drums. There’s a ’60s pop vibe with “Velvet Ditch” that is incredible,;you have a trumpet and a piccolo resonating awesomeness during what is one of the most unique tracks on the album. So far, The Arcs’ only date in the States is at The Bowery Ballroom in New York City on September 26 before they head to Europe for a few dates. What a bummer, huh? Let’s hope Auerbach’s new project heads over to our neck of the woods in New England before he moves back to doing something with Patrick Carney in The Black Keys. While we wait patiently, grab a copy of Yours, Dreamily, from The Arcs — a heavy dose of rock ‘n’ roll that’s just right for your ears. Stream “Outta My Mind” here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kcewVcjtiE The Arcs’ Website: http://www.thearcs.com.