I wrote about The Raveonettes and their Rave Sound of the Month series, which officially started last month. Since their formation the duo, the Danish indie rock duo — comprised of Sune Rose Wagner (guitar, vocals, production) and Sharin Foo (v0cals, bass) — have developed a reputation for going on their own path creatively and stylistically. And although they’re not the first artist that I’ve covered, who have done a single of the month series — JOVM mainstay Rene Lopez is in the middle of a Jam of the Month series that started last year, and several other artists have adopted the format as well — but it makes sense creatively, financially and marketing-wise in the blogosphere age. Creatively, the artist isn’t constrained by having to write with a cohesive style or theme in mind, as they would be required in terms of writing for a full-length album; however, they are forced to come up with ideas within rather strict, demanding and regularly occurring deadlines. And ironically enough, there’s absolute freedom in creating within restriction and with a strict deadline. In some way, the idea is to capture the emotional highs and lows of a year within the recording process in a way that feels like an audio journal. Financially speaking, artists who are struggling to find ways to fund their efforts recording and touring can split their costs over the course of a year, while stretching the recording process to a few days over the course of a year. And in the fickle age of the blogosphere, single of the month series ensure — in some fashion — that the blogosphere will pay attention to you over the course of a year.
At the end of January, I wrote about “This World Is Empty (Without You),” the first single of the Danish indie rock duo’s Rave Sound of the Month series. Comprised of thick cascading synth chords, eerily swirling electronics and skittering drum programming paired with Sharin Foo’s plaintive cooing to create a song that evokes desperate loneliness, heartache and regret in a way that subtly hints at 60s pop and 80s Freestyle — while being much darker. As Sune Rose Wagner explains in press notes, the series’ second single “Run Mascara Run” “was was partly inspired by a trip to [T]he Bronx with my mentor Richard Gottehrer and the one and only Dion, of Dion And The Belmonts fame. I remember distinctly Dion telling fantastic stories of gang life, girl crushes and of course Doo Wop. Hip Hop of course has always been a huge influence on everything I do so for the first time I decided to add a spoken word, stream of consciousness, rap part to a Raves tune. The notion of girls going off to war, instead of men has been haunting me for quite some time, imagine if that was the case! Images of the War in the Pacific, California surfer boys grieving the loss of their girlfriends or wives, etc. What if bombs had fallen in George Lucas’ American Graffiti? This is quite a schizo tune! Rave On X…”
As a result,”Run Mascara Run” is arguably one of the weirder and compelling Raveonette tunes I’ve heard as it’s a slow-burning song that sounds as though it draws from Doo Wop and Phil Spector‘s Wall of Sound production style but filtered through atmospheric and dreamy synth pop.
