record reviews:

Bloc Party

A Weekend in the City

(Vice)

On their debut, Silent Alarm, Bloc Party separated themselves from their many British “post-punk” peers with a more intense and angular sound, anchored by an unusually memorable rhythm section and the pointed social commentary of reluctant star and frontman Kele Okereke.  That commentary has evolved into a fascinating, consuming obsession on A Weekend in the City, a Statement Album that, in the end, is neither as cerebral nor as visceral as likely intended.  Even so, they have successfully flown from the nest of Franz Ferdinand (et al.), seemingly for good. 

For their second album, they have embraced some of the artier representatives of NYC rock, like TV on the Radio (as on the opening of “Where Is Home?”) and Yeah Yeah Yeahs (particularly the “Maps”-cribbing drums on “Sunday”).  They also swing for the pop fences with glossy, propulsive rockers like “The Prayer.”  The rhythm section has some scattered moments of real electricity, and there is enough bombast to rattle arena bleachers and make Depeche Mode nod their heads in solidarity.  But despite Bloc Party’s great faith in the soft-loud-louder structure (“Waiting for the 718,” “Uniform”), many of the crescendos fail to deliver the promised payoff.

Okereke tackles a variety of societal issues on A Weekend in the City.  For anyone feeling the suffocating grip of urban ennui for the very first time, or wishing that someone would finally take a stand against consumerism and the shepherding effects of television, A Weekend in the City may sound considerably more daring and blistering than it will for listeners who have survived their mid-twenties, or already digested the work of key lyrical influences like Morrissey and novelist Bret Easton Ellis.

— Adam McKibbin

www.blocparty.com

 

Related:

Bloc Party - Silent Alarm

 

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