Dem sechsten Album der Raveonettes gingen bereits zwei Singles ("Observations" und "She Owns The...

The Raveonettes - Observator



























Dem sechsten Album der Raveonettes gingen bereits zwei Singles ("Observations" und "She Owns The Streets") und in schöner Tradition eine EP namens "Into The Night" voraus. Deren 4 Titel hätten "Observator" gut zu Gesicht gestanden, denn mit 9 Liedern in 31 Minuten ist das Album doch recht kurz geraten. 
Über iTunes wird mit "A Perfect Place" zumindest ein weiterer Song offeriert.

"Observator" wurde innerhalb weniger Wochen im sonnigen Los Angeles zusammen mit dem Produzenten Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, The Go-Go's, Dum Dum Girls) aufgenommen und ist dennoch größtenteils nicht minder düster und melancholisch geraten als der Vorgänger "Raven In The Grave". Begründet mag dies in Wagners damaligen Zustand, geplagt von Depressionen, Alkoholismus und einer Schreibblockade, sein. 

Nun steht eine Schreibblockade der raschen Veröffentlichungspolitik von Sharin Foo und Sune Rose Wagner natürlich diametral gegenüber und das lässt sich leider auch aus "Observator" heraus hören. Bei nur 9 Titeln fällt es schon deutlich ins Gewicht, wenn zu viele Songs zwischen "ganz nett" ("Downtown"), "belanglos" ("Sinking With The Sun") und "zu niedlich" ("The Enemy") pendeln. Als Gegenpol seien aber auch das düstere und mit Piano-Klängen veredelte "Observations" und die noisig-gitarrigen "Downtown" und "Till The End" genannt, die wieder einmal dem Geiste von The Jesus & Mary Chain entsprungen scheinen.     



Over the course of their decade-long career, the Raveonettes have carved out a highly specialized niche for themselves, wherein they write catchy pop ditties with a cockeyed view of modern romance and then cast those songs in minor-key arrangements swathed in heavy Jesus and Mary Chain-style reverb. They've developed their aesthetic with surgical precision, and Observator, which adds a few more instruments to their sonic palette, is a logical extension of that aesthetic. Lead single "Observations" may replace the band's distorted electric guitars with a slightly out-of-tune piano, but it's still unmistakably a Raveonettes song because of its noisy, echoing reverb and multi-tracked vocal harmonies.
While "Observations" might initially suggest a return to form, though, it's also indicative of the overall problems that surface on Observator. The song's dreary instrumental coda drags on interminably, but it's still less grating than the final minute and a half of "The Enemy," on which Sharin Foo croons the line, "I'm the enemy," with no real affect well over a dozen times, and "You Hit Me (I'm Down)," on which Sune Rose Wagner spends even longer doing the exact same thing with the line, "You hit me when I'm down." Were the chord progressions and melodies on songs like "Observations" and "She Owns the Streets" not so monotonous and the tempos not so plodding, the sheer amount of structural repetition might not be so maddening or dull.
Since they have stronger lyrical hooks and more memorable melodies, tracks like opener "Young and Cold" and "Sinking with a Sun," which contrasts its gloomy tone with an unexpected surf-rock inspired arrangement, serve as reminders of how well the Raveonettes can actually pull off their trademark sound. The haunting "Downtown" and raucous, album-closing "Till the End" are the set's strongest cuts, and it's telling that they're the briefest, most deliberately edited songs here. While the album may improve on its predecessor, Observator still finds the Raveonettes engaging in far too many self-indulgent habits: They've left Hot Topic, but they don't seem to know where they're headed next.
(Slant Magazine)

The Raveonettes auf Tour:

11.12.12 München, Atomic Café
12.12.12 Berlin, BI NUU
13.12.12 Köln, Gebäude 9
14.12.12 Frankfurt, Zoom

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