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Lana Del Rey · S3 E2
Dan Auerbach
A Black Keys guitarist, a Nashville studio, and a sound nobody expected
Nashville, Tennessee, late 2013. Lana Del Rey walks into Easy Eye Sound studio, shakes hands with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, and tells him she wants to make an album that sounds nothing like Born to Die.
"Ultraviolence" (Lana Del Rey, 2014). The title track of the album she made with Dan Auerbach: dark, guitar-driven, and shot in grainy black and white that looks like it belongs in a different decade. This is the sound of an artist burning down everything that made her famous and starting over.
Easy Eye Sound, Nashville
Dan Auerbach's recording studio in Nashville, where Lana Del Rey recorded most of Ultraviolence in sessions that felt more like jam sessions than pop recordings.
The Black Keys Connection
Dan Auerbach is the guitarist and vocalist of The Black Keys, one of the biggest rock bands in the world. He's also a producer obsessed with blues, soul, and the kind of raw recording that Nashville studios were built for. Lana picks him specifically because she wants guitars, real instruments, and a sound that feels like it was recorded live in a room, not assembled on a laptop.
Sources
Rolling Stone
Billboard
NME
“I wanted it to sound like a band playing in a room. That was the whole idea.”
— Lana Del Rey, on the Ultraviolence sessions
TAP TO REVEAL: How different were the Ultraviolence sessions from Born to Die?
Ultraviolence, Lana Del Rey (2014)
The title track opens with a single electric guitar playing a riff that sounds like it was recorded through a broken amplifier on purpose. Auerbach's production is all about space and grit: every instrument has room to breathe, and you can hear the room itself in the recording. Listen for how Lana's vocal is drier than anything on Born to Die, with barely any reverb, making her sound like she's standing right next to you. The song builds to a guitar crescendo that would have been impossible in the pop world of her debut.
Sources
Pitchfork
NME
Ultraviolence: The Sessions
Cruel World, Lana Del Rey
From Ultraviolence (2014). The album opener. Six minutes of guitar-driven rock that announces the new Lana Del Rey in the first thirty seconds. If Born to Die was a Hollywood movie, Cruel World is a dive bar at 2 AM. This is the sound of someone who doesn't need to be polished anymore.
Cruel World, Lana Del Rey (2014)
"Got my blue nail polish on, it's my favorite color and my favorite song." The opening line drops you into Lana's world with zero warning. Six minutes later, when the guitars finally fade, the Born to Die era is officially over.
What 1962 novel does the album title "Ultraviolence" reference?
The album is recorded, the guitars are loud, and the sound is completely new. Next: the lead single "West Coast" drops, the tempo switches mid-song, and the world finds out that Lana Del Rey has learned to play with fire.
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