{"product_id":"black","title":"Black","description":"Personnel: Jonathan Yudkin (strings).\u003cbr\u003eAudio Mixer: F. Reid Shippen.\u003cbr\u003eRecording information: Arlyn Studios, Austin, TX; Blackbird Studios, Nashville, TN; Buckjump Studios, New Orleans, LA; Monster Island Studio, Nashville, TN; My Place, Franklin, TN; Ocean Way Studios, Nashville, TN; Southern Ground Nashville, Nashville, TN; The Red Room, Nashville, TN.\u003cbr\u003ePhotographer: Jim Wright .\u003cbr\u003eArranger: Jonathan Yudkin.\u003cbr\u003eOn the album art of Black, his eighth album, Dierks Bentley appears in a seemingly foreign atmosphere for the country singer: the stylish, sexy streets of a city at night. This change in setting -- previously, Bentley has been seeing picking on a porch, grinning in an alley, staring into the sunset, and chilling with a dog -- doesn't necessarily suggest a leap into crossover country-pop, but there's little question that the sultry gloss of Black is a consolidation of 2014's Riser, a record slicker and straighter than its predecessors. Call it maturation as much as a shift in aesthetics. Now 40, Bentley doesn't spend as much time raising the roof as he once did, preferring slow grooves and smoky textures. When he gets loose, it's in a measured fashion: \"Somewhere on a Beach\" and \"Roses and a Time Machine,\" tacit sequels to \"Drunk on a Plane,\" march to a beat so deliberate that revelry seems like an afterthought, even when Dierks sings about \"edumacation.\" Only when he brings Trombone Shorty in for a cameo on \"Mardi Gras\" does the pace actually quicken, but Black is intentionally bereft of such carefree moments. Alternating impeccable midtempo anthems and soft ballads -- the latter including duets with Maren Morris (\"I'll Be the Moon\") and Elle King (\"Different for Girls\") -- Black winds up gelling into gently pulsing AAA-country. It's mood music, sometimes playing as smooth as a seduction but better suited for moments of introspection when you're surrounded by a crowd and need to isolate. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine","brand":"MovieMars","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45323254497567,"sku":"602547782960","price":12.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0679\/7833\/0399\/files\/fe510b46adcf85a5d52ba1dd261cca1e.jpg?v=1777787394","url":"https:\/\/www.moviemars.com\/products\/black","provider":"MovieMars","version":"1.0","type":"link"}