Friday, December 16, 2011

REVIEW: The Rapture - In The Grace of Your Love



Grade: 94% (A)

Since arriving at my freshman year in college in September, few things have captured me more than LCD Soundsystem. A casual fan prior, mainly as a fan of the epic drop on "Dance Yrself Clean," I had not really dove into their discography. However, in the month of October, something in me decided that I was sick of reading about their praises and not experiencing it. So, I made a conscious effort to listen to Sound of Silver as much as possible. After the first three or so listens, I was only mildly impressed, mainly by the mainstream hit "North American Scum." However, something clicked around that fifth or sixth time around, and all of a sudden "All My Friends" and "Someone Great" were my most played songs in my iTunes library. Maybe it was the fact that I really did miss my friends and "Someone Great" really related to my romantic issues at the time, but LCD Soundsystem climbed near top of the charts when it comes to my favorite bands. 

Fuck. James Murphy retired. I knew all of this, I dissed the live stream on Pitchfork of their final show. I probably could have gone. And looking at the setlist, FUCK, I should have gone. Now I have to live the rest of my life knowing I will never see one of my favorite bands perform some of my favorite songs (barring a comeback of course). I was too late. 

But wait, along comes this little piece of joy. I've spun In the Grace of Your Love almost as much as anything else I have in the three months I've been at school. The Rapture's return isn't Sound of Silver, but it is contemporary dance-punk at it's best. They aren't my favorite band, but I know that seeing them live will feel as close as it gets to what it would have been like seeing LCD live. It was in fact, James Murphy who told Luke Jenner to "unquit his band" after it fell apart following the departure of bassist Matty Safer in 2009. 

Maybe I'm a overplaying this a little, but then again, I truly do love this album. From the first driving pulses of the opener "Sail Away," to the groovy closer, "It Takes Time to Be a Man," I was in a trance. I just want to dance. That rhymes. 

Jenner's lyrics are a little better than my previous attempt at poetry. Probably a lot better in fact. Since the band's last LP, he became a father and lost his mother, two major life changing events that shaped his songwriting for this record. So yeah, they're gonna be a little dark, but because the music is so uptempo, you don't notice unless you truly listen. On "Children," maybe the purest dance track of the album, he sings, "children breathe, children bleed, i can't see you and me." He carefully places his defining song as the final track, proving that he has climbed the mountains he's faced, and now he's ready to help anyone else who went through the shit he did. 

Though they lost their bassist in 2009, there is no lack of catchy basslines here. In fact, the songs are almost crafted around them. The bass acts as the core as the band throws dreamy synths and surging beats on top of them to match the integrity of the vocals. "Come Back to Me" rides along the ridge and refuses to dip into the valley and end as it taunts the clouds with it's ability to maintain rhythm and posture.  

These tracks are long and have a certain grittiness to them. The title track has a playful but angry instrumental jam at the beginning as it leads into the charming verses only to revert back to that ire with the soaring vocals in the bridge/chorus as Jenner sings, "don't want you dead." While the songs have a quiet uniformity to them, they are much more jam-based and informal than the carefully structured rhythms and beats that Murphy used in LCD Soundsystem. 

Guitar takes center stage to start the distinctly floaty "Roller Coaster" and the song serves as a perfect example of the repeated choral lines that appear throughout the album.  "Miss You" has a supreme baseline and the edgy synths act as a perfect matchmaker of the beat and vocals. "Blue Bird"'s continual guitar strumming is like a little kid punching you on the arm to get your attention, until you finally do and then the solo pops in with a change of the song's theme.  

Now to the best track. Second to last on the album, "How Deep Is Your Love?" encapsulates each melody from the previous nine songs into one. It is piloted by it's piano riffs and extended with layered synths. There's no lack of disco motifs in the chorus and the song just gets better and better as it continues. Without it's extended bridge and conclusion it's a good track, but with them, it is a great and masterful track. With two and a half minutes left, the saxophone is introduced, and before you know it, you are hurled into an array of sounds that stab at your ears before bursting through and commanding your body to move. The "hallelujah!" screams at the end coupled with the other repeated lines are sure to make a concert hall rock. Don't fault he band for going after "Midnight City" for best saxophone solo of the year. 

This isn't the genius that Sound of Silver was, but The Rapture might be pointed to to do their best to fill the gap that LCD Soundsystem has left us. And with In the Grace of Your Love, they clearly have done a pretty good job, and like I will with Sound of Silver, I plan on having hipster dance parties while listening to iTGoYL front to back. 

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