THE RAPTURE
Pieces of the People We Love Vertigo ****
It's high time for some new soundtracks for the punk-disco. When The Rapture released their debut album, Echoes, back in 2003, it contained one monster anthem (House of Jealous Lovers), a lot of Robert Smith yelps and some wayward cowbells. For all its cutting-edge bravado, it sounded forced and unnatural, and the New York band with all the right connections seemed destined to be stuck for some time on the fashionista lane to nowhere.
Three years on and The Rapture return with an album that zings with intensity, energy and, most importantly of all, one damn fine song after another. While you can put the sonic fizz and crackle down to production trio Danger Mouse, Ewan Pearson and Paul Epworth (all inspired hires for this outing), it's The Rapture themselves who are standing and delivering tunes such as Get Myself Into It, Live in Sunshine and, especially, the powerful, searing Sound. Not only has the awkwardness and gaucheness that clouded Echoes been corrected by three years of pretty solid touring, but the band have rediscovered and fine-tuned their ability to marry a hyperactive sound to strong melodies somewhere out there on the road from Chicago to Cleveland.
Thanks to their array of punky-funky pop crackers, Pieces of the People We Love is a rewarding and, yes, rapturous experience.
