The Courettes: The Soul of The Fabulous Courettes
(Damaged Goods Records)
Vinyl | CD | DL available at Sister Ray
Out September 27th
Amy Britton reviews the fourth album from The Courettes, The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes, a more soulful affair from the garage duo that still brims with plenty to keep fans happy.
If there’s one thing previous releases have taught us about Danish/Brazilian garage-rock duo The Courettes, its that even the most hardened of purists would have difficulty calling their sixties sound anything other than authentic. While recent years haven’t exactly seen a shortage of fuzzy garage revivalists, it was always evident that everything about the Courettes, from their fabulous aesthetic to the Ronettes-meets-The Sonics, showed a band truly in love with the Sixties. Their fourth album, The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes, sees them dwelling on another aspect of that – as the title implies, it is an album tinged with a blue-eyed soul feel.
Of course, fans need not worry that the band have become too smooth. Opener You Woo Me backs up its sensual harmony with raw, swirly organ, whereas the likes of Here I Come and Better Without You and Shake! are straight up, squalling garage of the spikiest, rawest order. Also in a similar vein to previous releases in their consistent knack for blending different elements of the sixties – in particular, garage and girl groups – into one sound, ensuring that being apparent students of the era need not be derivative. After the hypnotic sensuality of opener You Woo Me, having won us over they invite us into their car and on their road trip to California. With its vibe of jangle meets girl group and lyrics about a California road trip evoking a Beat-novel coolness, it doesn’t take long for the tone of the album to be set.
The girl-group influence, and sense of melody, is something which continues throughout. Album midpoint Wall Of Pain – giving a slight nod to the Wall of Sound in its title – has the fittingly, textured feel of a Wall of Sound record, whereas Boom Boom Boom has a vibe that the Wrecking Crew could almost have played on. As if the girl group cake wasn’t already baked to perfection, the ultimate frosting of authenticity is then added by the contribution of vocals from La La Brookes, of the legendary Crystals, on Run Run Runaway and California. Meanwhile, the “soul” that the album title implies makes itself known with the likes of the dreamy, blue-eyes Run Run Runaway and the danceable beat of Northern-soul-tinged Keep Dancing.
Before closing track For Your Love began, the sixties love affair had me expecting it to be a cover of the Yardbirds classic. But what we get instead is a far more fitting closer, a slow-burn track which rounds off the album. The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes is an album which taps into some of the finest music of the past to create their own sound – it’s a world full of beehived girls dancing freely, stretched out highways and the sense that yes, we had “never had it so good”, but one that makes perfect sense and escapism for the modern world too.
Find more info on The Courettes on their website
THE COURETTES AUTUMN TOUR DATES
25.09 The Adelphi – Hull, UK
26.09 The Night Owl – Birmingham, UK
27.09 NE Volume Music Bar – Stockton, UK
28.09 Acapela Studio – Cardiff, UK
29.09 St Marys A Creative Space – Chester, UK
30.09 The Cluny – Newcastle, UK
01.10 The Caves – Edinburgh, UK
02.10 Room 2 – Glasgow, UK
03.10 Night & Day – Manchester, UK
04.10 The Dome – London, UK
05.10 Norwich Arts Centre – Norwich, UK
06.10 Wedgewood Rooms – Portsmouth, UK
10.10 Copenhagen Distillery – Copenhagen, Denmark
11.10 Turbinen – Randers, Denmark
12.10 Studenterhuset – Aalborg, Denmark
23.10 El Sol – Madrid, Spain
24.10 Boogaloo Cafe – Caceres, Spain
25.10 Velvet Club – Malaga, Spain
26.10 Sala Milwaukee – Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain
27.10 Planta Baja – Granada, Spain
30.10 Universidad – Victoria Gasteiz, Spain
31.10 Outono Codax – Santiago de Compostela, Spain
01.11 Funtastic Dracula Carnival – Benidorm, Spain
02.11 La Casa del Loco – Zaragoza, Spain
03.11 Kafe Antzokia – Bilbao, Spain
05.11 Le Point d’ Eau – Strasbourg, France
07.11 Les Etoiles – Paris, France
09.11 Rocksea – St Gilles Croix de Vie, France
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All words by Amy Britton. Find more on her archive
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