The Raveonettes fourth album, In and Out of Control, marks another change in direction for the band, though it's much less noticeable than the shift between the glossy, overproduced Pretty in Black and the raw, noisy, and self-produced Lust Lust Lust. This time out, the duo of Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner decided to record in a studio again, and enlisted the production and songwriting skills of Thomas Troelsen, who's worked with a diverse roster of artists that ranges from Junior Senior to Aqua, to his own excellent groups Private and Superheroes. Anyone fearing a return to the slick sounds that almost ruined the band will be glad to know that while there is more variety and a definite pop feel to the album, there is also plenty of noise and raw power to go around. The subject matter of the lyrics is totally Raveonettes too, touching on "suicide," rape, sadistic girls, heartbreak -- all providing the requisite levels of general malevolence one would expect. What the band and Troelsen do on the album is take the basic noise-plus-melody template that forms the band's core and give it a tweak here and there. Some sunny glockenspiel on "Last Dance," some electronic sound manipulation on "Boys Who Rape (Should All Be Destroyed"), and clunky new wave drums on "Breaking into Cars" are some of the touches that brighten things up without diluting the band's intrinsic strengths. In general, the tightly arranged songs and use of different sounds from song to song make it perhaps the most listenable album of their career. It has some of their hookiest songs ("Last Dance," "Suicide," "Bang!"), some of their most ferocious sounding songs ("Break Up Girls!") and their toughest ("Boys Who Rape"), a couple of very pretty ballads ("Oh, I Buried You Today" and "Wine"), and no missteps. Thanks to the production, the performances, and the songs, the Raveonettes have delivered on the renewed promise of Lust Lust Lust and made a very good, almost great, noise-pop album.
