There's doubtless very little that SUPERSWEET can say about The Raveonettes' Sharin Foo that hasn't already been said…but we'll say it anyway! As a furious blast of white noise rips through the Islington Academy and the band enter under cover of darkness, a single flashbulb momentarily lights up her sylph-like figure as an enthusiastic photographer wastes no time getting a good shot of (and this could be controversial!) one of the hottest women ever to play a guitar; and she hasn't even had time to pick one up yet.
From this moment on it's very difficult to tear our eyes away from Sharin's razor sharp cheek bones and smoky eyes, but the white noise is now tugging impatiently at our collective sleeve, growing louder and louder….and louder. It's the intro to 'Gone Forever', second track from the band's brilliant new record, In And Out Of Control. Sharin picks out the first notes on her guitar before she and Sune begin their trademark boy/girl twin vocals. The sound is fantastic and, dare we say it, much louder than Tuesday's A Place To Bury Strangers gig. Then again, the rig's about three times as big…
'Gone Forever' is a bit of a throwaway number (geddit?) but it certainly gets things warmed up. The band are giving off a great vibe too, all smiles and knowing looks as they break into a ferocious guitar-led version of 'Do You Believe In Her'. Stand out tracks of the evening include classics like 'Dead Sound' with it's heavenly harmonies and the Lynchian 'Love In A Trashcan' from Pretty In Black, but many are from the new album. There's pop stomp of 'Bang', 'Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed)' the raucous 'The Beat Dies' and 'Heart Of Stone' which has a similar vibe as 'Love In A Trashcan'.
The band break things up a bit, Sharin and the drummer swapping places for a couple of songs and Sune and Sharin (she's so talented…sigh) taking turns to sing solo on broken down version of 'Little Animal' and 'Oh, I Buried You Today' respectively. This is great because the last time this SUPERSWEETer saw Raveonettes (many years ago now) we complained that everything tended to merge into the same song after a while. This is certainly not the case tonight, the band having now built up a great array of material, balancing old with really promising new stuff. No 'Christmas Song' though!
Words: Isaac Howlett
Photography: Minh Le