Danish-Brazilian married couple Flavia and Martin Couri have amassed a belting track record of impeccably retro albums so far, drawing heavily from the golden age of scuzzed-up garage rock, Phil Spector-infused teen-pop, guitar-twanging surf music, vintage doo-wop and more.
The Soul Of The Fabulous Courettes sticks pretty firmly within this archly nostalgic aesthetic, but with a little more richly orchestrated girl-group razzle-dazzle and a little less dive-bar valve-amp sleaze.
From the high-octane Shangri Las’s heartbreak weepie Wall Of Pain to the defiantly sassy liberation anthem Keep Dancing (‘I feel so great now you’re dead and gone’), the duo lay on both hormonally charged melodrama and macabre humour in spades.
Their White Stripes tendencies still get an airing on bluesy stompers like Shake and Here I Come, but the giddy sunshine jangle of California and the revved-up Ronettes swagger of Boom Boom Boom reveal more of their harmony-drenched closet-romantic side than ever. It suits them.
