Song, by Toad

Either this is the easiest or the trickiest review I’ve ever had to write, which may be why it has taken so long.  Basically, The Raveonettes have produced another album that sounds a lot like The Raveonettes, one that splits the difference between the slightly too soft Pretty in Black and the occasionally too distorted Chain Gang of Love.  It is not in any way earth-shattering but all in all I think it’s probably a good thing.  I quite like The Raveonettes.

As to exceptional, well Chain Gang of Love was absolutely blinding in parts, although a little uneven.  Pretty in Black, which I was hugely excited about, was something of a disappointment as the 50s rock ‘n’ roll became, at times, a little too dominant in comparison to the scuzzy, growling garage guitars.  My Boyfriend’s Back and Love in a Trashcan are really pretty rotten songs, but as much as I don’t love it, I found myself slowly coming round to that album.  Now I would happily volunteer that there are some really, really good songs on it.

So while Lust Lust Lust is a welcome return to the more frenzied sexual repression of their early work, at the slight expense of the doo-wop (the whole album sounds like some outrageous pervert has slipped his hands up the skirt of the Grease soundtrack and had a good rummage) it still isn’t knocking me out.  After my experience with Pretty in Black, where the songs dropped into my consciousness one by one over the course of several years, I am loath to write this off however.  I love the sound of Sune Rose Wagner’s guitar – it sounds like he’s just deflowered your fifteen-year-old niece and is holding up her plain, wholesome panties as a trophy – and they manage to create a slightly malevolent, scummy and yet disarming atmosphere in their music.

It’s an unsettling mixture of the faux-naif old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll sound and the brilliantly snarling and distorted Jesus & Mary Chain guitars, and although I am not in love with this album, I am quite prepared to give it time to settle in.

The Raveonettes – Aly, Walk With Me
The Raveonettes – Dead Sound

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