The Rapture - Echoes
(2003)
Tracks
1 Olio 5:20
2 Heaven 3:47
3 Open Up Your Heart 5:22
4 I Need Your Love 4:39
5 The Coming of Spring 2:42
6 House of Jealous Lovers 5:04
7 Echoes 3:06
8 Killing 3:37
9 Sister Savior 3:51
10 Love Is All 4:26
11 Infatuation 5:01
The Rapture are a Punky, stroke Indie, stroke Dance act hailing from the New York area. From their early beginnings in the nineties, they have always had that air of coolness about them, and were the darlings of the trendy scene coming out of New York after all. They were certainly not all hype though, they just so happened to be one of the more hardworking bands from the city as well.
Their break came in 99 with the release of Mirror on Gravity Records, yet more touring followed this release and more local acclaim. A six track EP was soon doing the rounds in the early 2000’s, entitled Out of the Races and Onto the Tracks, this was released on Sub Pop no less, so it seemed a given that this band were eventually going to do something lasting. Indeed the pressure was on; expectations were high in the underground communities of many a US city, about what this band could potentially do.
Thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long to find out, The Rapture’s big break came with their second studio release, an album that seemed to catapult The Rapture right above the critics and into your record player at home. Released on DFA in 2003, Echoes by The Rapture was an instant draw for the student crowds of the UK. Here in Britain, despite the euphoria for this band being based upon a couple of songs, the band seemed to find themselves in the company of other NME favourites like The Strokes and The Libertines overnight.
It seems only fitting that we look at that famous song of theirs first, House of Jealous Lovers is by definition, “a beast”, it begins with a scream, is filled with cow bell rhythm, pulsating base, whaling and angst ridden vocals and all the while, wrapped in a Stirling Morrison guitar style, in short it is one of the best songs of the decade by a country mile.
So, I could end it all there, but I should probably mention at least a couple of other highlights that can be found on this album as well. The title track isn’t too bad, Echoes is actually my favourite song from the album at the minute and is just one of those songs you have to play loud for the rest of the bus to hear. But there are some sweet moments above all the rhythmic shebang. Songs like Sister Saviour, Love is All and Infatuation, demonstrate that maybe The Rapture deserved their hype back in 2003 and today.
The thrilling thing though about Echoes by The Rapture is the level of influences. The Rapture on this album seem to be helping themselves to many a genre and merging it all into one big marvellous creation, from bog standard Dance Indie to Post Punk, even finding times to marry Grunge and House with a kind of Velvet Underground/Plastic Ono Band vibe to back it all up with. Sure, you were probably drawn to this album for one song, but actually there is a lot more to be had here, and before you know it, you’re pretty much enthralled by the whole thing, wonderful.