Garage rock’s next phase has a decidedly retro kick

Rolling Stone magazine’s biannual “Next Wave” list, a kind of tip sheet on promising new acts, is where a lot of pop fans first read about the White Stripes, John Mayer and Norah Jones, all of whom went on to major success during 2002.

If history repeats itself, the Raveonettes will be one of this year’s hit arrivals -- the garage-rock duo from Denmark tops this season’s “Next Wave.”

That means different things to different people.

“The Rolling Stone piece ups the ante a little,” says Mitchell Cohen, senior vice president of artists and repertoire at Columbia Records. “There’s an awareness of the Raveonettes -- ‘Oh, I read about them; they sound interesting,’ that kind of thing. That stamp of approval helps at press, retail and radio to some extent.”

But for the band, it has less meaning, particularly in shaping the sound of its new album, due this summer from Columbia. Singer-guitarist Sune Rose Wagner says he and singer-bassist Sharin Foo haven’t felt any pressure from the “Next Wave” label, partly because the sound is so rooted in his iconoclastic, almost encyclopedic tastes.

“I always wanted to be one of the Everly Brothers, you know,” Wagner says by phone. “But instead of having two guys singing, I’ll have a girl singing.”

He also cites a love for less macho roots sounds such as the Ronettes, the Angels and the Shirelles. Indeed, the new album reportedly contains several songs, including the title track, “Chain Gang of Love,” that could have emerged from the ‘60s hit-making machinery of the Brill Building. (The producer is Richard Gottehrer, who produced the Brill classic “Leader of the Pack” before overseeing Blondie’s first recordings.)

“Whenever you hear those songs, it just hits you every time how extremely well-written songs they are,” the 26-year-old Wagner says. “That’s really what we strive for. So people 100 years from now can still put on our music and say it’s very, very good.”

That remains to be seen, but the Raveonettes’ sound does prefigure an important change in the “new garage” movement -- the end of a revolution and the beginning of an evolution.

The visceral, fevered garage rock and blues of the Strokes, Hives, White Stripes and others over the last few years have been a fast trip through the original ‘60s era of garage rock, freshening up post-punk with the pre-punk sounds of ‘60s originators such as the Seeds and the Sonics.

But now a more emotionally complex and nuanced sound is emerging, one that harnesses the energy of garage to less-obvious motives. Jagged one-note ravings are shattered and subverted to grow more artsy (Interpol) or rootsy (Kings of Leon) or, in the case of the Raveonettes, more like a descent into shadowy psychodrama and dark kicks.

The Raveonettes’ pared back but beautiful music has all the marks of garage -- the rockabilly attitude, the fuzz guitars of every ‘60s maverick rocker. But there’s more depth. Singer-bassist Foo, 27, who trained with classical Hindu dhrupad singers in India, adds a dark, droning vocal line beneath Wagner’s voice with a gripping minor sweetness recalling Mazzy Star’s Hope Sandoval or, when more strident, X’s Exene Cervenka.

Rolling Stone learned of the band last May when contributing editor David Fricke saw the Raveonettes play to an ecstatic crowd at a music conference in Aarhus, Denmark, and tracked down their imported EP, “Whip It On.” (That eight-song record was released in the U.S. this week by Crunchy Frog Records.)

Columbia Records Chairman Don Ienner was intrigued by Fricke’s review, contacted the band through him and signed it to a U.S. deal.

“We started this band with the notion that we were gonna be the biggest band in the world,” Wagner says. “So when Rolling Stone wrote that, we were very flattered and very proud.”

But Wagner hopes that his band’s identity doesn’t depend on being part of any wave.

“Hopefully we’re not going to be part of any scene that’s going to die within a couple of years. Our roots date back to stuff that is more long-lasting and timeless.

“To be quite honest with you,” Wagner adds, “growing up in Denmark and stuff, I don’t really know how important this ‘Next Wave’ list is, because you don’t really read Rolling Stone when you live in Denmark.” He laughs, adding, “I don’t really know what it means, but I hear it’s big!”