Danish retro-rockers Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo have always worn their musical influences proudly, drawing on a reverb-heavy doom-pop lineage stretching back through The Jesus And Mary Chain to Blondie, Suicide, The Velvet Underground and Phil Spector.
Named after a famous Hawaiian surf beach, the duo’s seventh album has just been released online without warning, though deluxe physical versions are available. Pe’ahi adds little new to their established formula, but it does amplify their signature sound to new extremes of ear-bashing, melody-drenched euphoria.
With its gorgeous harp chimes and buzzsaw grunge effects, Sisters could be My Bloody Valentine soundtracking a David Lynch film, while The Rains Of May is pure West Coast sunshine-noir, Lana Del Rey with an extra jolt of amp-shredding distortion.
If we accept their obsessive retromania as heartfelt acts of recontextualisation then The Raveonettes are a living piece of Pop Art, and Pe’ahi sounds like their strongest gallery of timeless anthems so far.