Listening
to Bloc Party’s latest album FOUR. It
came out in 2012 but I’m only just now hearing it because I’d been scared off
the band after their horrible third album INTIMACY.
When
Bloc Party first appeared with their excellent debut SILENT ALARM and a classic
post punk Gang of Four/Wire influence as filtered through Brit pop, they seemed
destined for greatness. If anything,
their second album A WEEKEND IN THE CITY was even more commercial although it
didn’t seem to have as much inspired raw energy as the debut.
They
then hit a wall with INTIMACY. While musically
they fell in with a number of disheartening musical clichés (such as the
repeated line at the start of “Mercury”), lyrically frontman Kele switched from
tales of modern day anxiety to uninteresting minor takes on his romantic
life. He continued this theme into his
solo album THE BOXER albeit with more enthusiasm and better musical arrangements
but without Russell Lissack’s splintery delayed guitar effects.
But
FOUR I’m happy to say is a complete return to the sound of the first two
records with the addition of especially soaring, searing choruses. All parts of their music, vocals, playing, the
songs themselves, show the mark of a band that is now back on track and if
anything still getting better.
One
thing Bloc Party shares with a number of 2000 British bands such as Maximo Park,
Editors, Elbow, Arctic Monkeys, etc. is they’ve never been able to fully
capitalize on their awesome debut. They’ve
made good music since but not as consistently. This first album problem might
be a subject for another blog post.
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