Album Review: The Courettes - "Back In Mono"

 

The whiff of hype hangs heavy over the Courettes. They're the sort of band that the NME would have absolutely creamed themselves over in the early noughties, sounding like an almost exact cross between the stripped down garage rock of the White Stripes and the kitschy goth-pop of the Raveonettes. Unfortunately though, my thoughts were that both of the above were somewhat overrated so I guess maybe this album was always going to be at a bit of a disadvantage with me.

Let me start by saying it's not a terrible album - the Courettes' schtick is essentially taking the whole '60s classic girl group sound and adding a garage rock aesthetic to it. But unfortunately the execution is...erm, somewhat lacking shall we say. The main issue is just the total lack of originality here. Maybe it's just my age but as someone who's heard this sort of formula done much better by bands ranging from the Bellrays through King Salami and the Cumberland Three to the Hillbilly Moon Explosion, this just feels a bit flat by comparison. And to be brutally honest, the tinny echoey production and the overwrought to the point of irritation vocals really don't help matters either.

It's not totally worthless, there's a few tunes here which are pleasant enough in a Ronettes pastiche kind of way like the snotty Trash Can Honey, the spiky Edge Of My Nerves and the sinister Until You're Mine but there comes a point where the fact that the Courettes really aren't treading any ground that others haven't done better before just becomes impossible to ignore I'm afraid and the likes of R.I.N.G.O., Want You Like A Cigarette, My One And Only Baby and Misfits & Freaks all just kind of blend into each other in their unremarkability.

I'm sure that Back In Mono will be a huge hit among the sort of people who thought Jack White was a god in the ascendant but to these ears, the Courettes are simply yet another band in what's already become a very overpopulated genre in recent years who don't really have anything in their arsenal to stand out from the field. Sorry guys but simply being kitsch, kooky and '60s influenced just ain't gonna cut it round these parts anymore.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌓🌓🌓🌓🌓🌓🌑🌑🌑🌑 (6/10) 

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