On The Chain Gang
The Raveonettes rock American style with a juicy pop-garage sound on their 03’ release, Chain Gang of Love. Working with all the elements of recent indi formulas, they’re a hot chick/creepy guy two-piece set up, they’re Scandinavian, they sing about making out, and they have cool hair. Their sound is total throwback music, but diverse. Chain Gang of Love evokes anything from The Strokes to Sonic Youth to the Go-go’s to the Monkees.
The rebel biker movie poster motif that covers the album prepares the listener for peppy innocuous lyrics, and a pace that ranges from mellow and moody to rollicking and…well…moody. I’ve got to admit it, I could totally roll down some American highway in black and white, sound-tracked to hokey but hard-assed tracks like “Noisy Summer.”
More fun than their previous album, Whip it On!, the noise pop duo have regressed to a sound that taps comfortably into what has apparently become the international phenomenon of post-teen angst we call “the indi scene.” These guys do not sound even remotely Danish; relinquishing any European-ness to a total American pop culture meld of sound, The Raveonettes’ Chain Gang of Love is an easy fit into even the most rockenest music collections of today’s indi trendsters.
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