The Raveonettes Celebrate 10 Year Anniversary With New Album 'Observator'
Tuesday, 19 June 2012
Written by Jon Stickler
The Raveonettes Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner have announced the release of their new album 'Observator,' out September 10th via the bands own Beat Dies Records in the UK. Throughout their impressive career the Danish duo has explored sonic territories ranging from lush pop songs to reverb drenched soundscapes and continually celebrated life through songwriting. All of these forms are evident in 'Observator,' sumptuous and beautiful in its sound, but bleak and sad at its heart.
“When you start to record a new album, people always ask you what you think it will sound like. It’s almost impossible to talk about music that doesn’t exist but when we started work on our sixth album late last year, I thought that for once, I had a pretty good idea,” says Sune. “Put simply, Observator was supposed to be our Los Angeles album. At least, that’s what I imagined it to be in my head. As much as I love New York and feel almost constantly inspired by the noise and confusion here, the allure of the west coast has always loomed large for The Raveonettes. When it came time to start work on this album, the warm Pacific pull had become irresistible.” “If I’m being honest, I also needed to get away because strange days had found me in New York. I threw out my back last summer and the recovery was extremely difficult. When you’re a young man and you can’t put your socks on in the morning without being overwhelmed by pain, it can be very demoralizing. When something that you take for granted is made to be so difficult, there’s no way you can stop it from affecting you mentally. Eventually, I was diagnosed with a clinical depression and ordered to stop drinking, start exercising and to be more social, which I managed to do for a short period of time. By New Year, the party needed to stop and going out to Venice Beach seemed like the perfect solution. I could use the California air to get clean, concentrate on writing, and no one would distract me.”
“The fact that I was listening to The Doors constantly only added to the seductive draw of the drowning sun. I wanted to get back to that classic verse-chorus-verse style of song writing that The Doors managed so well on their best singles. It’s a very specific and evocative feel that I wanted to achieve, and going out west seemed the best way to capture it.” Sadly Sune says, “What I found however was quite the opposite. I found dread and despair in LA, a wicked loneliness that only furthered my intake of substances. I couldn't focus and inspiration was fleeting or mostly absent.” Throwing himself into the real lives of people he encountered in both California and New York Sune soaked up the stories of both cities. “I get a lot of my ideas when I’m out. I get drunk and have moments of lucidity where I scribble down notes and thoughts. The next day, I’ll start channelling the thoughts I had the previous night. That’s sort of always worked for me but this time, I had to go the long way round to remember that.”
'Observator' was recorded at the legendary Sunset Sound Studios with mentor Richard Gottehrer (Blondie, Go-Gos, Richard Hell), who the band worked with on album 'Pretty In Black.' “It was during these sessions that a new dimension to the Raveonettes began to develop; it’s the first time we’ve ever used the piano and what a glorious, gloomy sound it makes. We knew immediately that it was something we needed to expand on. But make no mistake; 'Observator' is still a gorgeous guitar album.” “Overall, we took just seven days to record 'Observator' so in that context, it’s one of the quickest and easiest albums we’ve ever done. It was getting in the right frame of mind to actually write the songs that took several agonizing months. For so long, I tried to capture a new muse and carve out a path forward for us. I travelled thousands of miles to find it and experienced all kinds of insanity along the way. Yet all the while, the future of The Raveonettes was in the people, the occurrences, and the relationships that were immediately around me. It’s not an LA album. It’s not even a New York album. It’s a collection of observations that occur in life and as I’ve learned, life happens everywhere.”
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“When you start to record a new album, people always ask you what you think it will sound like. It’s almost impossible to talk about music that doesn’t exist but when we started work on our sixth album late last year, I thought that for once, I had a pretty good idea,” says Sune. “Put simply, Observator was supposed to be our Los Angeles album. At least, that’s what I imagined it to be in my head. As much as I love New York and feel almost constantly inspired by the noise and confusion here, the allure of the west coast has always loomed large for The Raveonettes. When it came time to start work on this album, the warm Pacific pull had become irresistible.” “If I’m being honest, I also needed to get away because strange days had found me in New York. I threw out my back last summer and the recovery was extremely difficult. When you’re a young man and you can’t put your socks on in the morning without being overwhelmed by pain, it can be very demoralizing. When something that you take for granted is made to be so difficult, there’s no way you can stop it from affecting you mentally. Eventually, I was diagnosed with a clinical depression and ordered to stop drinking, start exercising and to be more social, which I managed to do for a short period of time. By New Year, the party needed to stop and going out to Venice Beach seemed like the perfect solution. I could use the California air to get clean, concentrate on writing, and no one would distract me.”
