In the Grace of Your Love

In the Grace of Your Love is lethargic and shapeless. [Oct 2011, p.109]

It comprises 11 tracks that sound like intros in search of songs. It is bland of lyric and tinny of sound. The rhythms plod alarmingly.

The Rapture show that they are as worthy of pupils as they have been for the last decade as teachers. But, unfortunately, they still have a lot to learn.

With its meat-and-potatoes disco-punk beat and rousing keys, it feels like it's reaching beyond the known universe of the typical club scene.

It's not a difficult or aloof album, but there is a cool precision that feels different to the choppy punkiness of old.

There's a lot of heaviness swimming around this album, and though some songs, like "In The Grace Of Your Love" and "Miss You," play it lower and slower than your average dance jam, this is still a lively record.

Some of the songs like 'Miss You' and 'In The Grace of Your Love' have genuinely good moments and are enjoyable whilst they last. However, it's hard to escape the feeling that this is a band struggling to define themselves in a musical context that no longer needs them.

One of the risks of having faith is becoming deaf to plain truths. The truth in this case is that most of In the Grace of Your Love is lousy.

The Rapture still do brainy, stuttering dance rock better than your average electro fetishists. [Sep 2011, p.137]

With In the Grace of Your Love, The Rapture show the newbies how it's done.

This album might actually be a devotional record of sorts--to downtown New York's musical DNA, and to the idea that dancefloor hedonism can be its own kind of grace.

Nearly a decade later, their new album attempts to recapture the moment of dancefloor serendipity and only occasionally do they succeed. [Oct 2011, p.99]

The collection of 11 tracks are both majestic and effortless--qualities that give the album a feeling of natural progression, perhaps bettering what's gone before.

The lyrics, too, reek of a lack of inspiration.

Not every song succeeds, and the best moments tend to be the danciest.

I will say In The Grace of Your Love makes the last five years without The Rapture seem a lot more empty, sometimes you don't know what you're missing until it returns.

The band's personal choices--to abandon rock iconography for smaller, more fulfilling family units--will be Grace's fate as well: a record without broader narratives, meant for those who grew up with the Rapture, or want to.

Next to his material, In the Grace of Your Love sounds as forgettable as the dozens of nameless bands who came in Echoes's wake. The Rapture could still regroup on their next record, but it's difficult to see where they'd go from here.

The flashes of the old Rapture are far too few, but when they're there, In The Grace of Your Love proves that the Rapture have lived long enough to outrun their hype.

It looks like The Rapture--now a trio following the departure of bassist Matt Safer--have regained their despite to flaunt their slightly awkward moves. [Sep 2011, p.102]

The result, for its few flaws and its exhilarations, at the very least, sounds fantastic, production-wise; Grace finds the band melding tooth-ground guitar assaults; '80s throwback candy pop; fluttery house templates; dusty, almost Stax-worthy soul getaways and sample-laced electro throbs into an album willing to sacrifice sonic exactitude for a mélange of sounds, tempos and genre exercises that still feels very much of a singular-albeit kaleidoscopic-piece.

It won't get you shaking your ass, but swaying eyes closed on Sunday morning has its appeals too.

If there's a major difference here, it's that the Rapture has never sounded so confident in what they're doing.

The handclap stomp of "Miss You" explodes at just the right moment, while the house-music piano of "How Deep Is Your Love?" proves the boys' club credentials remain intact.

The band starts with a sometimes-tiny foundational idea, and then builds up and up, just to see how high it can go.

It may not be the Rapture many were expecting this year, but this triumphant return to form is pretty glorious nonetheless.

A flimsy and disposable album.

The Rapture have picked themselves up with a third album packed with ragged romps every bit as joyous as "house Of Jealous Lovers," their 2002 breakthrough. [Oct 2011, p.95]

Put this cake back in the oven; it doesn't need more icing, but it could use more substance. [Jul 2011, p.82]