The Raveonettes – Lust Lust Lust

As most TLOBF readers will be aware, The Raveonettes are a Danish duo, featuring Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner. They have been recording together since 2002, and this is their fourth full-length release.

And quite a tricky album to review it is, too. As I write this, I have listened to it perhaps 7 or 8 times, and I’m still struggling to form my opinion about it – good or bad. Many of the reference points used by the band are in the arena of the Very Good Thing: Jesus and Mary Chain being one of the most obvious, along with other dark-twisted-melody-merchants like Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, and a Spector-esque wall of sound production gloss.

The problem lies in the album’s pace, and the lack of variety in their sound. Initially the tuneful, yet slightly disembodied, vocals coupled with the aforementioned full sound sit well with the weird air of menace. Opener “Aly, Walk With Me” nods to David Lynch’s Fire Walk With Me, and the album’s imagery is dark and a bit twisted, with lyrics such as “In this tomb / I call out” (Hallucinations), “I fell out of heaven / To be with you in hell” (Lust) and “Covers me with all her black / Satin dress takes me aback” (Black Satin).

A mood is very definitely being created, although it does seem to be more one of doom and narcosis than the Lust suggested in the title. One of the two best tracks comes four songs in – “Dead Sound” – and belies its name by being notably more animated, with particularly lovely vocals and a great chiming sound that echoes the melody. After this, the pace begins to drag, with subsequent tracks repeating the doomy yet glossy trick so much that it is difficult to distinguish one from the next. Things improve three quarters of the way through, with the other stand-out track “I Want Your Candy”. Combining a very 1960′s, almost Motown girl-group, sound with a Jesus and Mary Chain feel (perhaps also referencing Psycho Candy), twanging guitars and a liquid bubbling synth backing shouldn’t, on paper, work as well as it actually does.

Another trick that The Raveonettes use, nicely, is the mid-song pause. This happens two times, both after a relevant lyric: first on “Sad Transmission” after “heartbeat stops”, then on closing track “The Bat Dies” after the word “silence” has been sung. This is an idea that has been used many times before, but still sounds good.

After the “I Want Your Candy” highlight the pace once more begins to drag. Ultimately, perhaps, this is a band whose ability to produce a highly distinctive sound ends up working against them. There are a total of about three tracks here that I would want to listen to again and again, which leaves 9 that have washed over me and left no permanent impression. Shame, as those three tracks are pretty fine. Like I said, a bit of a tricky and confusing listen.
60%

Links
The Raveonettes [official site] [myspace]