Bloc Party – A Weekend In The City - Album Review

ukevents · Joined: 15 Dec 2003 Posts: 1980

After bursting into the limelight with their debut album Silent Alarm, Bloc Party had set the standard for all their future releases. A year working on their “difficult” second album A Weekend In The City seems to have paid dividends. The result is an accomplished, edgy view of 21st century London through the eyes of lead singer Kele Okereke.

The album begins with the wonderful Song For Clay (Disappear Here), offering a sense of the vulnerability Kele feels in London. New single Hunting For Witches is a real lead track form the album, with its funky electro intro, harsh sounding guitars and awesome drum-beat, all of which blend so well and make a great album track. The Prayer though is just Bloc Party at their brilliant best. Dealing with the issue of Kele’s drug use in his earlier years he drones “Tonight make me unstoppable” over the hard-hitting drums and brash guitar, that just makes it a great piece of music. My favourite track however is Kreuzberg a haunting ballad set in East Berlin, reflecting on the sense of nothingness that follows a string of one-night stands. I Still Remember revives the upbeat persona of Bloc Party with a tune that could be easily sung along to. The song actually tells of two schoolboys who have a complex attraction for each other. Listening to Bloc Party you see that Kele Okereke is a fantastic lyricist, Sunday is a prime example. The line “ I love you in the morning, when you’re still hung over”, is for me just brilliant. This particular song isn’t as brash as other tracks but uses the subtle tones of Kele’s voice amazingly.

At this moment in time Bloc Party are one of the foremost bands on the British music scene and I suspect they will be for time to come.

Written by Matthew for UKEvents.net