Echoes

The Rapture: Luke Jenner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion); Mattie Safer (vocals, keyboards, bass, percussion); Gabriel Andruzzi (saxophone, percussion); Vito Roccoforte (drums, percussion).
Recorded at Plantain Recording House, New York, New York.
If you're so inclined, it's easy to play spot-the-influence with the Rapture, one of the best of New York City's neo-punk-funk crop. One track suggests Robert Smith fronting the Pop Group, another evokes a collision between A Certain Ratio and New Order, etc. But that approach would entail missing the forest for the trees. Like millions of bands before them, the Rapture leaves a trail of its musical inspirations, but this isn't 1981, and ECHOES is very much of its own time.
The band started out as a more abrasive, jagged, Wire/Fall-like outfit without much of a groove, but starting with their world-beating single "House of Jealous Lovers," they began turning toward a danceable, atmospheric sound (with the help of the DFA production crew). Accordingly, ECHOES is a smorgasbord of funky, elastic basslines, percolating synthesizers, and angular guitar riffs, all artfully arranged for maximum bite. Atop it all, Luke Jenner's angst-ridden yelp insures that no matter how self-assured the framework, an aura of emotional upheaval will always skew the Rapture's balance toward the unpredictable.