In The Grace Of Your Love is a beautiful record. Especially, because it emerged from emotionally exhausting circumstances. After his mother’s death, songwriter Luke Jenner wanted to create something positive – and succeeded. The album’s euphoria is contagious and honest, but also carries something deeply sad in the subtext. The opener, Sail Away actually sounds a bit poppy and surfy (the cover shows a boy surfing). In general, the album is much more full of psychedelic- and dream-pop when compared to the hyped up cowbell- and electronic sounds of the old days, which used to conquer the clubs of New York. Blue Bird sounds a lot like Panda Bear. The single How Deep Is Your Love is incredibly catchy due to its many pianos and the saxophone-solo. Around the middle part, the record shows a slight decrease in quality and the songs become somewhat shallow – but only to come back with a bang and finish bombastically. On In The Grace Of Your Love, The Rapture sound less full of vim and less wild, but luckily still young enough. At least until the last – and best – song of the album, exemplary titled It Takes Time To Be A Man. Perhaps, this album could best be understood as a paradigm of musical and lyrical coming of age.
Squid
Cowards
Warp