Bubbles anyone?
When it comes to this band, I used to be that one guy from the Tool song: “man, why can’t they just rock like they did on their first EP?”
No longer. This is the Raveonettes’ 4th full length; as was the case in the three albums that preceded it, the Danish duo’s sound on this record owes a great deal to early rock n’ roll and Jesus & Mary Chain (though I still swear that their first EP is actually a punk rock record), only this time they made the extra effort to infuse pop into the equation. Depending on how you feel about these influences, you may really like this album or perceive it as utterly unremarkable.
I think it fucking rocks. While the opener “Bang” is a bit shyer than the title may imply, it already shows that this is more of a feelgood album than 2007′s dark Lust Lust Lust… or at least as feelgood as a record featuring songs called “Boys Who Rape Should Be Destroyed”, “Suicide”, “D.R.U.G.S.” can be. It’s not a new gimmick: sugary music and gloomy subjects have been working great together even before The Cure did “Inbetween Days”. Yet it is precisely that trick that makes this album suitable to a wide range of the listener’s moods.
There is an abundance of great tracks here: the opener is followed by “Gone Forever”, a rocker that is arguably the best thing this band ever recorded. “Last Dance” is perhaps the album’s most shamelessly pop moment, so much it could have soundtracked an 80s teen movie (that’s a compliment). “Boys Who…” is a much more pleasant listen than the title indicates; like most of the album, it features relatively simplistic lyrics that, while not to deep, can be quite witty at times.
Most impressively, the Raveonettes manage to keep the enjoyment level high all the way through, something they failed to accomplish throughout their first few LPs. They succeed here because of tracks like the riff-driven “Heart of Stone,” the awesomely bouncy “Breaking Into Cars”, and the one track that actually features feedback frenzy, “Break Up Girls!”. Sure, there are a couple of quite good slower songs here and there, but this is mostly a classy, bubblegummy rock n’ roll affair.
FOR FANS OF: The Jesus & Mary Chain, The Strokes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, John Hughes’ movies, 50s/60s rock n’ roll.
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