In the Grace of Your Love

Album Review

Prior to the making of In the Grace of Your Love, lead singer and lyricist Luke Jenner became a father, lost his mother through suicide, and converted to Catholicism. The events naturally had a major impact — one far greater than the departure of bassist Matt Safer — on the Rapture's fourth album. The dramatic changes in Jenner’s life supplied him with a lot to work through, and they’ve fostered the most focused, song-oriented set of Rapture material — one in which death, devotion, and children are recurring themes, expressed in states of deep anguish and redemptive joy. Despite a five-year gap in releases, the band’s sound has not changed significantly, as it remains rooted in a form of dance-rock inspired by post-punk and new wave with the occasional diversion into full-on dance music (lean and dubby on “Come Back to Me”; blaring and gospel-oriented on “How Deep Is Your Love?,” not a Blaze cover). Cassius’ Philippe Zdar produced it all, and like another album with his touch, Phoenix's Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix, the shorter and longer songs both seem ideally constructed, as if he knows when to tell a band when to stop or elaborate. While it might not be as adventurous as Echoes or pack the swagger of Pieces of the People We Love, In the Grace of Your Love is the band’s most powerful and vital album thus far.