"More richly orchestrated girl-group razzle-dazzle and a little less dive-bar valve-amp sleaze": The Courettes ramp up the melody on The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes

Retro-rocking duo The Courettes amp up their more romantic side to great effect

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The Courettes: The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes cover art
(Image: © Damaged Goods)

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Danish-Brazilian married couple Flavia and Martin Couri have amassed a belting track record of impeccably retro albums so far, drawing heavily from the golden age of scuzzed-up garage rock, Phil Spector-infused teen-pop, guitar-twanging surf music, vintage doo-wop and more. 

The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes sticks pretty firmly within this archly nostalgic aesthetic, but with a little more richly orchestrated girl-group razzle-dazzle and a little less dive-bar valve-amp sleaze. 

The Courettes - "Keep Dancing" - YouTube The Courettes -
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From the high-octane Shangri Las’s heartbreak weepie Wall Of Pain to the defiantly sassy liberation anthem Keep Dancing (‘I feel so great now you’re dead and gone’), the duo lay on both hormonally charged melodrama and macabre humour in spades. 

Their White Stripes tendencies still get an airing on bluesy stompers like Shake and Here I Come, but the giddy sunshine jangle of California and the revved-up Ronettes swagger of Boom Boom Boom reveal more of their harmony-drenched closet-romantic side than ever. It suits them. 

Stephen Dalton
Stephen Dalton

Stephen Dalton has been writing about all things rock for more than 30 years, starting in the late Eighties at the New Musical Express (RIP) when it was still an annoyingly pompous analogue weekly paper printed on dead trees and sold in actual physical shops. For the last decade or so he has been a regular contributor to Classic Rock magazine. He has also written about music and film for Uncut, Vox, Prog, The Quietus, Electronic Sound, Rolling Stone, The Times, The London Evening Standard, Wallpaper, The Film Verdict, Sight and Sound, The Hollywood Reporter and others, including some even more disreputable publications.