The Arcs: Chains Of Love | NPR MUSIC FRONT ROW

FULL CONCERT: It speaks to The Black Keys’ popularity and stature as one of America’s finest working rock bands that the initial school of thought around The Arcs was that it’s singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach’s “side project.“ The Arcs’ debut album, Yours, Dreamily, may have begun as a solo excursion, but the group has turned into a soulful explosion. Those lucky enough to see the eight-piece band’s concert debut — recorded during a special First Listen Live performance at the Housing Works Bookstore Café on a humid September night in Manhattan — bore proof of The Arcs’ unique energy. Sure, the fuse is lit by Auerbach in guitar-slinging mode, but the fire rages through all of his amazing bandmates. Richard Swift stakes his claim as a drummer here, moonlighting from his various gigs as The Shins’ musical polymath, producer of albums for the likes of Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier and Nathaniel Rateliff, and a composer of h