Words by Adam Symington//Illustration by Josh Frankel
The initial draft of this review started as some really dense and intellectually self-gratifying piece of myopic and over-inflated garbage. I think this approach stemmed from the fact that Pieces of People We Love is a bit of a murder-mystery that requires a considerable amount of thinking and analysis to figure out its value. Feeling particularly intimidated by this case, I tried to sub-contract this one out to Tom Selleck but apparently he was sadly just playing a part on Magnum P.I. and subsequently has no interest in further super-sleuth endeavors. Also, a word of caution—Tommy S. doesn’t do shit without Higgins. So given this, it is in a saddened retreat that I go about solving the mystery behind the newest effort by The Rapture.

Disclaimer: Many of you will hark “well what about band x and collective y!!!” after you read the following claim but, in the larger context of general music, I feel that the claim holds true.

The Rapture was in many ways a mainstream pioneer in the electro-punk dance movement and if the claim isn’t totally empirically accurate, all the surrounding hype at the time would point you to that conclusion anyways. Their major debut, Echoes, was raw and gritty, employing a covert sense of exploratory focus that tied the album together as a whole. This focus I largely attribute to the production efforts of James Murphy et al., DFA. The album was spastically dense and provocatively eclectic. Long story short – it was a breath of fresh air in a congested time in “indie rock” (believe me when I say I use the term loosely). After Echoes and endless amounts of touring in support of it, the Rapture gang had to figure out where to go next. Sadly, in the three years between Echoes and Pieces of People We Love, Korg, Moog and Apple’s sales soared as everyone decided to go electronic. The end result: To borrow from James Murphy, The Rapture “lost their edge”.

In an over-saturated market for their genre, The Rapture had two choices for their next release: 1) separate themselves from their new brethren with a knock-out release or 2) tread water and join the crowd. It is in this authors’ opinion that they chose the latter. I will call Pieces of People We Love a sophomore slump, but in the least derogatory sense possible. It is very much a good album, but is lacking considerably in comparison to its predecessor. The major fault I find in this album can be summed up in its title. It seems as if The Rapture replaced its eclectic and conceptual cohesiveness for loosely drawn dance numbers that fail to really push any boundaries or do anything new. Its pieces of the Rapture’s influences, forcibly jammed together and tidied up into an album that never really comes together.

Gone are the angry, punk-driven songs like “Killing” (“1,2,3,4, kick that fucker out the door”) and “House of Jealous Lovers”. In its place are songs like “The Sound”, which starts hard, driven and angry, making you ready to beat your steering wheel like it owes you money. Then comes the cop-out choruses. These consist of wish-wash like: “You’ve been to college/you know the score/the world is waiting for a knock at the door”. It is here that I get let down and confused. The song is loosely based about going out but yet I’m supposed to do the hipster-Charleston to post-graduate advice? Am I supposed to wake up the next morning, stretch, recall those inspiring words from the club and go staking my claim in the world? Thanks but no thanks, guys. In a similar fashion, gone are the spacey and composed songs like “Infatuation” and “Open Up Your Heart” that are actually welcomed spacers on Echoes. On Pieces, you instead have forgettable, bullshit filler like “Down For So Long” and “Live in Sunshine”. But enough with the self-esteem-balloon-deflating criticisms.

The single-worthy dance numbers on the album, “Don Gon Do It” and “Get Myself Into It” are well produced and extremely danceable. I was particularly impressed with “Get Myself Into It”. Lyrically inferior to anything on Echoes, the song excels in its “club ascetics”. The deep bass, snappy drums and minimalist guitar are perfectly balanced for getting down and dirty on the ol’ dancefloor. Add to that the lynchpin of the sax in the chorus and you get one of the better dance songs of the year. Also noteworthy is my personal favorite, “Whoo! Alright-Yeah… Uh Huh”. This track is the most reminiscent of Echoes, due mostly to the fact that it has DFA written all over it. It’s moderately angry, chalk full of catchy synth hooks and cleverly paced lyrics. All in all, it’s the best song on the album.

In short, Pieces of People We Love is a decent effort of a band that is struggling to find its relevance and place in the new electronic environment that had arisen since Echoes. In place of the angry punk-spiced sentiments that made Echoes such a strong album is a pop album marred by a lack of confidence or direction. Pieces is worth the listen, but ultimately makes me all the more expectant of a ground-shattering next release.

Note: Do not blast “I Need Your Love” (off of Echoes) while driving. You will feel like there’s a semi heading straight toward you.

Second note: _Pieces_’ “First Gear” totally knocks off Mylo – “Muscle Car Reform Reprise”