Bloc Party emerged in 2005 with their debut “Silent Alarm”, which NME magazine named album of the year. The freshman album went platinum and peaked at #3 on the UK charts.
However in the United States, Bloc Party emerged into the public through FIFA ’06, Project Gotham Racing 3 and other various video game soundtracks.
The band’s second and latest album, “A Weekend In The City,” expands the band’s sound but fails to live up to their first album, but for those not interested in the American pop punk dominated by the likes of Fall Out Boy and Panic! At the Disco, and are looking for some refreshing music, this album is perfect.
The album begins with “Song for Clay (Disappear Here),” with a lullaby sounding guitar and lead singer Kele Okereke singing, “I am trying / To be heroic / In an age of modernity.” His attempt at a falsetto is, well, awkward.
Static soon reigns through the speakers and the rest of the band comes in as the song transitions from lullaby to rock and roll. The build between the two styles in the songs is too short, so when the rock part comes in it isn’t nearly as intense as it should be.
The next track, “Hunting for Witches,” is a solid rock track. It’s dripping with all that makes Bloc Party cool: peculiar songwriting loaded with catchy hooks and the power of Okereke’s ridiculously thick British accent.
The main problem with “A Weekend in the City” is also what makes it great. Bloc Party loads their songs with hooks, and usually, if the first don’t get you, you have little to no chance of catching on.
Lyrically, Okereke focuses on issues within himself. On “Where Is Home,” Okereke chants, “The teeth of this world tear me in half / And everyday I must ask myself / Where where where / Where is it? / Where is home?” A sense of confusion and loss cloud most of the lyrics.
Similar lyrical themes continue on “Uniform”, where Okereke sings, “‘Cause I was brave, intelligent; I could have been a hero / No-one can be trusted under the age of fourteen / My joy and pain is relative / I’ve gotten so good at lying to myself.”
The album’s strongest track “Kreuzberg” starts with a gentle electric guitar riff and a steady drum that is coupled with a quiet vocal to make the song nothing less then entrancing. The song explores once again the lyrical theme of confusion, but this time focuses on coming to the realization of confusion and the need to conquer it.
While the album has its fair share of solid tracks, the overall conclusion is that it is not nearly as ground breaking as “Silent Alarm.”
However, it proves Bloc Party has plenty of talent, and the genius that was found on “Silent Alarm” wasn’t a fluke.
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