Danish act The Raveonettes head up the Jim Beam Tour at the Zodiac tonight with a sound darker, bleaker and louder than you thought possible from the clean-cut homeland of Lego.

Sharin Foo and Sune Rose Wagner visit Oxford for the first time, promoting songs from their forthcoming second album, the follow-up to Chain Gang Of Love.

The big idea behind The Raveonettes is their mutual disenchantment with the state of modern music, has prompted them to build their own brand-new rock 'n' roll sound.

Their gritty black & white pulp-noir garage rock sound is, according to Sune, "a tribute to a lot of the great music," that has come before them: "...the primal single beat of the Cramps, the noisiness and dark feeling of the 80s, the Jesus & Mary Chain, the girl groups of the 60s, the drone thing of Suicide, Buddy Holly and the simplicity of the 50s." "The vocals," adds Sharin, "are very Everly Brothers."

But also reckon on some Beach Boys-style harmony, and plaintive Hank Williams-twang.

None of that detracts, however, from their fundamental, unbridled electric energy.

"When I first heard the Raveonettes, it took me back to the great days of the punk revolution of New York City," exclaimed Richard Gottehrer, who is currently working on the first full-length Raveonettes album.

"The energy and excitement of that time is captured in their music with all the added power of today's sound. This band is going to be huge."

TIM HUGHES