Underneath the rainbow

"There's a sense that the Lips are trying to up their commercial game. After one album with Mark Ronson, Under the Rainbow is partly produced by Black Keys' Patrick Carney, who has brought much of the Keys' own postmodern electro thump. Waiting and Dandelion Dust sound arena-ready, and I Don't Wanna Go Home is the kind of song to blare out of a car. It remains to be seen whether the lack of an instantly recognisable Lips sound of their own may thwart their wilder ambitions, but they're not lacking in tunes".

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"The album's centerpiece "Boys in the Wood", a slow, Southern-rock-tinged song recorded with Brenneck, was the record's first single. Heard in isolation, it didn't work, but it sounds great in the context of Underneath the Rainbow. Coming after a dull patch, it's a sudden injection of life, with a thoughtful and well-paced arrangement. Unlike the Steve Mackay-style sax on Arabia Mountain's "Mad Dog", the Budos Band's horns on this one recall Allen Toussaint's arrangements for the Band's Rock of Ages-Southern rock songs emboldened by soulful brass. Counter to the album as a whole, it's proof that Black Lips can step outside their comfort zone, craft an ambitious song, and still sound like themselves".

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