A curious DJ with a gig on a golden oldies station should try rotating pretty much any track from the new Raveonettes CD, 'Pretty in Black', into a set one night. As the shock of the familiar settles in, listeners may wonder whether the tune was a B Side to something they can’t quite track down in their collection.

Despite a strong early 60’s feel, however, 'Pretty in Black' rises well above pastiche, due to the number of great songs and fantastic production. Sune Rose Wagner and Sharin Foo seamlessly share airy vocals and the playing has been toned down to clean, crisp guitars, without a whole lot of distortion or a self-imposed restriction to play in one key, both past Raveonette markers.

The album opens with 'The Heavens', a gentle, countryesque ballad, apparently inspired by the King himself. A few songs later and the pace has picked up with a couple of the album’s high points, 'Sleepwalking' and 'Uncertain Times' (the latter not a million miles away from Yo La Tengo). 'Here Comes Mary' starts off as the Everly Brothers incarnate, then nicely builds into a wave of guitar and drums.

At close to 45 minutes it can probably shed a track or two (adios, 'Somewhere in Texas'), but in this seasonal twilight – a blast of summer left but with many of the its memories already cast – this makes for the perfect August soundtrack.

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