Dan Auerbach "broadens his style" on Keep It Hid, says NPR's Fresh Air, "to include folk, country and even psychedelic elements." In a review of the solo debut album from The Black Keys' guitarit/singer on today's episode of the show, rock critic Ken Tucker says that, steeped though the album is in electric blues, Auerbach "doesn't wallow in either misery or menace—he doesn't overdo the drama inherent in the musical choices he makes," citing the "lusty energy" of a song like "Heartbroken, in Disrepair" as an example.

While the solo disc offers Auerbach space to change things up from the high-volume, full-throttle sound of The Black Keys—Keep It Hid being "all about creating intimacy—drawing you in with artfully tentative vocals," says Tucker—that's not to say Dan has shied away from the rock side of his blues-rock roots. That's apparent from the "guitar-and-drum rave-up" of the track "Goin' Home" to "the terrific song 'My Last Mistake,'" on which he "channels 1960s bands like Canned Heat and The Troggs while writing a lyric that shows him to be very much a contemporary fellow, sensitive to the needs of his loved one without being a wimp about it."

Ultimately, as Tucker tells it, "You don't need to know that he's usually half of a loud, thrashing, vehement music act to appreciate the floating, airy atmosphere of Keep It Hid."

Listen to the full Fresh Air review at npr.org.

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Dan stopped by Rolling Stone magazine's Smoking Section with his touring band, Hacienda and My Morning Jacket's Patrick Hallahan, to perform a couple tunes off the new record: "Mean Monsoon" and "When the Night Comes." Says the Smoking Section's Austin Scaggs: "We were especially stoked when Black Keys’ singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach graced us with his presence, while on a recent tour supporting his unbelievably awesome solo debut, Keep It Hid. (We can’t stop playing it, top to bottom.)" You can watch the two performances online at rollingstone.com. Says Scaggs: "It's a beautiful thing!"