When ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ first hit these shores 2 years ago you knew there was something in the air. This indie / dance crossover smash filled the hippest indie club dance floors in scenes not witnessed since the halcyon days of the Happy Mondays and Madchester.
They went on to play a couple of storming gigs in London including one very memorable night at Kings Cross Scala where the bass was so loud you felt that structural damage was surely only minutes away! Their mixture of dance beats, new wave guitars and screeching vocals brought the house down.
After playing a couple of festivals,off they went to Ibiza where they were booked to play Manumission. What the Eurotrash crowd in Ibiza thought of these skinny indie boys and their big hair is anyone’s guess. It’s a fair bet however that anyone who still thought that spending the evening in an overpriced club listening to faceless beats was even remotely close to the cutting edge had taken far too many drugs.
Since then they have re-released ‘House of Jealous Lovers’, brought out a double a side single ‘Killing’ with Jaun Macleans ‘Give me Every Little Thing’ on the flip. Both ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ and ‘Killing’ appear on ‘’Echoes’ along with the singles ‘Sister Saviour’ and ‘Love is all’.
The album kicks off with ‘Olio’ a creeping, bleepy house track that previously appeared on their debut album in a radically different form. One of the stand out cuts it sets their stall out perfectly. There’s no getting away from the similarities between the vocals of Luke Jenner and Robert Smith of the Cure. Do not let this put you off though, The Cure were never this concerned with the dance floor. Next up ‘Heaven’ is up beat and full of angular guitars locked into a tight groove. This side of The Rapture clearly owes a debt to the likes of Gang of Four and PIL. It would be fair to say that the influences are worn proudly on this album without ever being too derivative. Once again we find America selling us back the music Britain put out there in the first place.
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‘Open Your Heart’ slows the pace right down and compliments ‘Love is all’ which appears later on. This softer side is less interesting. They excel themselves when indulging in the punk / funk sound rather than the whiny all be it lyrically positive slower numbers.
The highlights are the previously mentioned ‘House of Jealous Lovers’ (surely there isn’t another song that utilises a cow bell to such great effect!), ‘I Need Your Love’ (a straight up floor filler) and ‘Sister Saviour’. The latter using an acid house build up underneath new wave guitars and some dark lyrics (‘At least if I drink myself to death / I know I’ll have had a good time’). Also check out the DFA remix of this tune which just adds to dance floor action (Either on the 12” or on their website (www.therapturemusic.com).
This DFA influence is crucial. DFA are the production duo behind the Rapture and Radio 4. One half of them, James Murphy, also releases records under the name LCD Soundsystem. Quite simply this reviewer buys anything with their name on and hasn’t been let down yet. If you check out any earlier Rapture material you will be confronted with a very average and noisy indie band. Beware!
‘Echoes’ is one of the best albums of 2003. There is always a danger when dealing with bands that have been hyped up to the extent that the Rapture has been that you will buy into an act indulging in style over substance. Do not worry, this is a gem.
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