Though the effect seems lessened three years into the current glut of post-punk and new wave-revivalists, when the Rapture debuted with the fantastic Echoes in 2003, their angular, spacious dance-punk seemed, if not entirely unprecedented, at least very far off the beaten path. In subsequent years, no other band has come close to duplicating Echoes’ abrasive edge or its weird, manic sex appeal. Consequently, fans rabidly awaiting a follow-up have had their hopes resting squarely on the band’s shoulders for a long time.
As the phase-shifted piano and vocals of “Don Gon Do It” introduce the Rapture’s latest, Pieces of the People We Love, long-time fans may be surprised. The gritty punk-era production values from Echoes have been replaced by a relatively polished sheen and the reverb that once drenched Luke Jenner’s vocals has been scaled back significantly. The higher-fidelity approach works well with Pieces, as the band rolls out one high-energy dance number after another. From the synthesizer-heavy “Don Gon” to the slightly menacing title track (on which Cee-Lo makes a guest appearance), each song tops the last all the way through the first half of the album.
Pieces hits its high-water mark on the spectacular “The Devil,” which pulls influences from almost every imaginable corner. Building momentum from a stop-and-start, Gang of Four-like riff, the song quickly shifts into a dance groove that’s equal parts funk and new wave, while Jenner sings at turns like Michael Jackson and David Byrne. The follow-up “Whoo! Alright Yeah…Uh Huh” is a close second, borrowing from the same influences and pushing the dance angle even harder. “WAYUH” also helps to explain the band’s decision to tone down their abrasive punk side, as the vocals run “People don’t dance no more / They just stand there like this / They cross their arms and stand around and drink and moan and piss.”
Unfortunately, Pieces starts to head downhill after “WAYUH.” Partway through the bland “Down For So Long,” the album’s shortcomings in comparison to Echoes start to become more obvious. In scaling back the reverb and tilting the scale farther toward actual dance music, the Rapture have discarded one of the most appealing parts of their debut, namely the sense that the band seemed to be forcing two completely disparate styles of music together by sheer energy alone.
Tracks like “Echoes” and “House of Jealous Lovers” were dance songs built on the unlikeliest of foundations, the incredibly abrasive and jarring post-punk of bands like Public Image Ltd and Gang of Four. Without this edge, Pieces of the People We Love puts much more pressure on the strength of individual songs to carry the album through.
Consequently, the album feels particularly weak as the song quality drops off toward the end. Still, for the first six or seven tracks, Pieces is easily one of the best releases this fall.
