On Lust Lust Lust (Vice Records), Danish-bred noir rockers Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo - better known as The Raveonettes - take their industrial doo-wop to new heights by sounding the depths of desire, despair and destruction. Standout tracks like “Black Satin” and “Sad Transmission” juxtapose the jingle-jangle sweetness of Wall of Sound-era pop with the post-punk menace of distortion, drones and flat-out noise. The result is eerily postmodern - and hauntingly beautiful. AMPLIFIER caught up with Wagner on the eve of the album’s U.S. release to talk about everything from David Lynch to N.W.A.
Critics have been saying this is your best album yet. Do you agree?
I don’t know. I really like all of our albums - I don’t have a favorite. But at the end of the day, I’m really proud of this album. It’s perfect in the sense that we managed to make the album we set out to do. The musical vision really came through.
I’ve engaged in several different activities while listening to Lust Lust Lust: cleaned the house, gone running, had sex. Strangely, it provided the perfect accompaniment to all of the above.
(laughs) I’m glad to hear that. There’s always been a sexy, erotic appeal to our music. And these songs have a lot of energy, which makes them good for physical activities. But the album is also filled with a lot of deep, profound emotion, so you can listen to it when you’re not doing anything, either.
You seem to have a number of disparate influences at work here. The beat on “With My Eyes Closed” hearkens back to old school hip-hop. What’s your favorite N.W.A. song?
I have a few. Obviously the classics, like “Fuck Tha Police.” And “Express Yourself.” That might be my favorite.
Damn. So you really do know your old school hip-hop.
Oh yeah. I used to be heavily into hip-hop. I used to breakdance and do graffiti. I remember that feeling of waiting for the latest Schooly D album to come out. I’ve always been fascinated by hip-hop. It’s been a huge influence.
A lot of the songs feel very cinematic - or, at least, evocative of cinema. Were you thinking of them as soundtracks to movies when you wrote them?
Definitely. I always see pictures in my head when I write songs.
While we’re on the subject of movies, I can’t help but compare you to David Lynch. Like a lot of Lynch movies, Lust Lust Lust occupies a sort of netherworld between the past, present and future. Was that intentional?
Absolutely. I’m very influenced by the works of David Lynch, the way they mix nostalgia with modern elements. The series Twin Peaks was a great example of that, the way it took all those references to the 50s and 60s - clothes, language, music - and placed them in a modern setting. That’s exactly what we tried to do on this album: Take elements from the past and put them in a modern context.
One more movie-related question and then I’ll stop. Francis Ford Coppola says that you make a movie when you have a question - and that the process of making the movie answers the question for you. What questions, if any, led to the making of Lust Lust Lust?
Well, lyrically, the album deals with one subject: lust. And we have a bunch of questions about it - questions that we put into songs. I’m not sure if they get answered or not. People deal with lust in different ways. Some are content to have a single partner for life, while others are confused about it. Are we really meant to be with someone forever? How do we make that decision, and how do we know if it’s the right decision or not? That’s what we’re asking here.
One of my favorite songs on the album is “You Want the Candy.” So I have to ask: Do you want the candy?
I used to want the candy a lot, but I’m trying not to have it so much these days. I need to work and stay focused. But the candy is fun.
--Kenyon Phillips
The Raveonettes’ Lust Lust Lust is released February 19 on Vice Records.
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