Chain Gang of Love

The Ravonettes are the next step in a line of dramatic and symphonic pop music as practiced by Phil Spector, The Velvet Underground, and The Jesus and Mary Chain. On the earlier Whip it On (2002), the Copenhagen-based duo highlighted Suicide-influenced Sturm-und-Drang. Chain Gang of Love, from the following year, grounds the feedback in sweet-voiced torch songs that sound removed from their era. That songwriting often makes Chain Gang of Love the equal of its influences. “Remember” and “That Great Love Sound” opens the album with the two sides of its soul – hazy longing on the former and erotically-charged exhilaration on the latter. That tension plays out in the dual vocals of Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo, which marry the close harmony of The Everly Brothers to erotically-charged pulp novel plots of crime, death, and lust. A sense of innocence also permeates the album — “Let’s Rave On” and “Heartbreak Stroll” are more dedicated to classic songcraft than noir provocation. But they’re no less affecting, and the expert songwriting makes Chain Gang of Love endure two decades on.