Bloc Party - Intimacy :: Wessex Scene Online

Bloc Party - Intimacy

Bloc Party - their third album is impressive

17th October 2008
Pete Benwell

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Nov 08 - Kaiser Chiefs - Off With Their Heads
Dec 08 - Max Tundra: Parallax Error Beheads You
Mar 05 - Bloc Party, Silent Alarm
Oct 08 - Gym Class Heroes - The Quilt
Oct 08 - Glasvegas - Glasvegas

More by Pete Benwell

Nov 08 - Luke Leighfield Interview
Oct 08 - Radiohead, London Victoria Park
Jun 08 - Oceansize, Youthmovies, Tubelord
May 08 - We Are Scientists - ‘Chick Lit’
May 08 - Tired Irie - ‘Tired Irie E.P’

Bloc Party have made an album that, rarely, kicks the daylights out of its own lead single. Impressive.

I approached ‘Intimacy, Bloc Party’s third album, with trepidation. Having loved first album ‘Silent Alarm’ literally to bits (the cd snapped in my bag) I was massively, massively disappointed with second album ‘A Weekend In The City’. Overwrought, overproduced and overlong it seemed like they’d suddenly and dramatically lost the plot. Catchy but tacky single ‘Flux’ wasn’t especially encouraging, and when ‘Mercury’ came out as forerunner to the new record it really started to look bleak. ‘Mercury’ is a real marmite track. I love the brown stuff. But I hate ‘Mercury’. Kele’s voice just sounds so strained and horrible and.... eughhh. Hating the lead single is not the best precursor to listening to an album. Thankfully, however, all of ‘Intimacy’ is far more pleasant listening.

‘Ares’ is an opener that marks Bloc Party’s intent to move on. Siren-like guitars kick the record off with aplomb, Kele Okereke’s strange schoolyard style chant is an unexpected delight, and it’s already different to the drawn out ‘Song For Clay’ that kicked off ‘A Weekend In The City’. Unfortunately, ‘Mercury’ follows, but I won’t get drawn into that. Third track ‘Halo’ will be joy for ‘Silent Alarm’ diehards, the jagged guitars and throbbing, energetic drumbeat more than slightly similar to that of oldie ‘Helicopter’. ‘Biko’ has a slow guitar intro reminiscent of much from ‘A Weekend...’ but develops into something much better with pulses of bass and clattering electronic beats. Indeed, Bloc Party’s attempts to use more electronic instrumentation and arrangement have come to fruition on this album, sounding less laboured and forming a key component of the band’s new sound.

There’s still some lyrical misteps. ‘Trojan Horse’ starts with the awkward ‘you used to take your watch off every time we made love/ you didn’t want to share our time with anyone’ (geddit?). A weaker track, it passes by unremarkably before the album’s centrepiece, the swooning, gently beautiful ‘Signs’. Lead by glockenspiel and Kele’s soft vocals, ‘Signs’ is easily the best thing Bloc Party have done since ‘So Here We Are’ and is perhaps a, well, sign of what they were trying to acheive on ‘A Weekend...’, but with more subtlety, no longer feeling the need to retreat behind a wall of overproduction. Following on, ‘One Month Off’ couldn’t be more different, but still works. Whilst ‘Signs’ is all delicate, interwoven instrumentation, ‘One Month Off’ is all about simplistic, brash guitar jabs and (another) sing-song, sing-along, bizarrely playground vocal hook. ‘I can be as cruel as you/ fighting fire with firewood’ sings Kele and it’s good to see Bloc Party have got some of their vitriol back.

The final three tracks showcase Bloc Party new electronic sound. ‘Zephyrus’ is dark and brooding, with ominous flourishes of choral backing vocals and a pulsing beat that recalls (maybe rips off) Radiohead’s ‘Idioteque’. ‘Better than Heaven’ continues in a similar vein, before erupting spectacularly with a kickass solo from lead guitarist Russell Lissack. The album ends in a glorious finale with closer ‘Ion Square’, a more positive sounding track that oddly sounds like the Arcade Fire gone a bit electronic, a stratospheric chorus driven by simple but effective, upbeat drums, synth and guitar.

So, my fears were unfounded.They aren’t yet as truly great as some claim, but ‘Intimacy’ is nonetheless an excellent record that cements their position as one of the Britain’s best currently popular guitar bands. Showing a willingness to experiment and expand the many of their contemporaries lack, it’s intriguing to see where Bloc Party will go next.

Score: 85%