Lana Del Rey Teams Up With The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach For ‘Ultraviolence’

February 22, 2014

As odd as it sounds, American pop star Lana Del Rey is working with Dan Auerbach, frontman of rock duo The Black Keys for her new album Ultraviolence.

The singer has revealed the collaboration by posting a black and white photo of herself sitting in Auerbach’s lap on Twitter, commenting, “Me and Dan Auerbach are excited to present you Ultraviolence.”

Revolt have now claimed that a representative from Interscope Records has confirmed to them that Auerbach has been slated as the album’s producer. A spokesperson for Del Rey has also confirmed to Rolling Stone that the duo has spent some time recording new material in Nashville.

After announcing the new album late last year, Del Rey teased a 1st May 2014 release date. MTV reported that during a recent Twitter Q&A Del Rey took part in, she discussed the album, telling fans, “It is absolutely gorgeous – darker then the first – so dark it’s almost unlistenable and wrong. But I love it.”

The pairing of Del Rey and Auerbach is surprising, especially given Auerbach’s MTV critique of Del Rey’s rise to fame. “On some level, we’ve seen that Lana Del Rey thing since we first started,” he said back in 2012.

“All of a sudden this new band would be headlining festivals, and we’re like, ‘Wait, how did they get that? We’ve been here for two, three, four, five years and we’re still working our way up,'” Auerbach continued. “But then they’re gone. Just as quickly as they get up there, they disappear.”

Somehow Auerbach and Del Rey have made peace. The Black Keys frontman has some strong producing credentials though, having worked with Dr. John, Hanni El Khatib and most recently Ray LaMontagne.

The title of Del Rey’s next LP was revealed in December at the premiere of her short film Tropico (which you can watch below). Only a few months before hand had she told Nylon Magazine that she was struggling to follow-up her 2012 album Born to Die. “I don’t want to say, ‘Yeah, definitely — the next one’s better than this one,’ because I don’t really hear a next one,” she said at the time. “My muse is very fickle. She only comes to me sometimes, which is annoying.”

Another rumoured contributor to Ultraviolence is Daft Punk collaborator and influential Italian record producer Giorgio Moroder, who attempted to avoid a question about his possible involvement with Del Rey when interviewed by Digital Spy. “[Lana Del Rey?] I don’t know? Did you read something about that? …I have a few singers I’m planning to work with… It’s difficult to answer the rumours, but… maybe. Maybe. I don’t know,” he said.

Watch: Lana Del Rey – Tropico (Explicit)