The Raveonettes are back in black.
20 years after the release of their sublime album Pretty In
Black, Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner are returning to
the road for a celebration of the 2005 classic. The project
marked the point where the Danish duo dialed back the
guitar whiplash of 2002’s Whip It On mini-album and the
full-length follow-up Chain Gang of Love, in favor of letting
their classic song-writing chops take the lead.
The mid-00s were a time when Sharin and Sune were
inescapable, and at the forefront of music culture. The first
ideas for the Pretty In Black album began to take shape
when the band were on a US tour with the Strokes, just
as the post-punk revival of the era was taking flight, and
afterparties still took place away from smartphones. “I
don’t know if we can call it the era of indie-sleaze because
we were both on major label’s at that point,” says Foo.
“But we could get pretty sleazy when we wanted to! I still
have some risqué polaroids of us partying with Julian
Casablancas and Albert Hammond Jr, somewhere! I see
so much discussion and fascination with those years. The
books and documentaries. I can understand why. It was a
fun era to be a part of.”
Pretty In Black isn’t the only part of the The Raveonettes
catalog that is coming back into view. Their 2010 cover of
The Stone Roses’ swaggering anthem “I Wanna Be
Adored” went viral on social media during 2024 (around
the time of their last US tour). It became a popular sound
for video creators on TikTok and has quickly become one
of their most streamed songs on DSPs. “We couldn’t plan
for that obviously, but that dreamy, shoe-gazing sound has
become a thing again,” says Foo. “We’ve always had
those influences and it really came out in the Stone Roses
cover we did."
But Sharin and Sune aren’t letting their greatest hits do all
the talking in 2025. There’s also the small matter of the
April 25th release of Pe’ahi II: a roaring sequel to their
surf-inspired 2014 album Pe’ahi. “It follows the same
themes of fragility of life, death, longing and, not least,
vulnerability,” says Wagner.
While serving as an ode to Pretty In Black, the fall 2025
tour will also serve as a teaser to a completely new, twelfth
studio album which the duo are planning to work on
throughout the year. “I’m proud of our history and I’m
happy to see so much interest in what we did with our
musical peers in those days,” remembers Wagner. “But I
can’t live in the past, either. I wanna make sure that in 20
years, someone is celebrating the anniversary of what
we’re doing now!”
