Retro, swanky, violent, beautiful, and ravenous. 5 adjectives I happily and readily attribute to the new Raveonettes album Pe’ahi. To add to the pretentiousness of this review I came up with those adjectives while walking around the Flatiron and Chelsea area of NYC at night listening to this album after eating at the ABC Kitchen. I then wrote this review while sipping tea in a tea shoppe located in the Flatiron building. That’s like a Big Mac of hipster pretentiousness and now that you have that useless silage lodged in your brain it’s on to the review!
Retro. There is an old school feeling to Pe’ahi that doesn’t belong to any one era. This amalgamation of elements, aural reflections of days gone by makes me feel old and young at the same time. I feel like my grandparents would have liked elements of “KIller In The Streets” and my parents elements of “Wake Me Up,” which has a very James Bondy feel to it. I feel like a younger version of me growing up in the 80’s would have fell in love with the girl next door while grooving to “Z-Boys” and the modern me loves it all for that a-bit-of-something-from-an-imaginary-by-gone-era that permeates through the whole album.
Swanky.”Endless Sleeper,” “Killer In The Streets,” “Z-Boys,” and “Kill!” all feel like I should be in some underground club in SoHo that involves a velvet rope in front of a literal hole in the wall of a basement bar. Past this rope are orange shag carpets, or maybe they’re even green? Who can tell in this dim light and who cares when there are GoGo dancers doing their thing and the martini’s are flowing like the Hudson. The scene is filled with Hipsters wearing their parents old clothes slowly moving to the back beat or slouching in worn out couches. This isn’t the swank of James Bond, but the swank of the over-priveledged and bored, but it’s interesting and intriguing all the same. It has a sense of déclassé all it’s own.
Sultry. The cousin of Swank, Sultry adds a sexy twist and a touch of class to the scene. Songs like “When Night Is Almost Done,” “Summer Ends,” and “The Rains of May” bring a new element to the party that slows things down while heating them up. You know that scene in The Big Lebowski where The Dude heads out to Jackie Treehorn’s beach house? “The Rains of May” should be playing during that scene. That’s the kind of sultry vibe Pe’ahi holds.
Violent. This is not the brutal violence of object and flesh smashing and crashing together. It’s a more subtle and visceral violence that leaves scars that can never be seen but only heard and observed.The melodic cries of the guitar combines with the static lashings to build a often brutal sense of foreboding behind the half heartedly upbeat pick-ups. The haunting and often depressing lyrics bleeding from the slightly obfuscated vocals adding to the willing helplessness that resides in almost every song completes the analogy and seeps into the next paragraph which is all about…
Beautiful. Boxing, Muay Thai, MMA, Jiujitsu and all combat arts have a beauty that resides beneath the blood and perceived violence of the sports. It’s something that isn’t always visible at first and requires an appreciation for the art of the sport. The beauty that resides within the Raveonettes static laden experience is thankfully much easier to detect with songs like “Wake Me Up,” “The Rains Of May,” “When Night Is Almost Done,” and “Summer Ends” fully embodying this omnipresent adjective and runs deep and dark.
Ravenous. Violence’s in-law surges and receededs with each passing beat on Pe’ahi. Every song leaves you wanting more in a way that feels like it can never be fulfilled leaving the listener hungry for more. By the end of the record there is no option but to play it again and feed the ravenous hunger to experience that sultry and swanky retro violence again and again.
All in all, the Raveonettes made a successful album in Pe’ahi that I was initially on the fence about, but am now fully on-board with.
Rating: 4.5/5