I\u2019m a big fan of deserved hype, infectiously catchy guitar riffs and bands that sound like U2, combining politics without preachiness. Nevertheless, I completely kept my blinkers on all through 2005\u2019s Bloc Party mania (hey, I thought music reviewers were all supposed to be brilliant geniuses\u2026). So, to redeem myself, I bypassed all the drooling Fall Out Boy fans crowding the aisles of Best Buy to pick up copy of A Weekend in the City, <\/i>the British indie sensation\u2019s follow-up to their smash hit debut. <\/p>\n
If you were hoping for another slice of hyperactive dance rock \u00e0 la Silent Alarm<\/i>, you\u2019re out of luck. The album still feels like the same Bloc Party with its sweeping anthems, but their once-signature jittery bursts of guitar have been sidelined in favor of intricate layers and crackling atmosphere. <\/p>\n
Themes of detachment even amid a perpetually bustling metropolis permeate the entire album; opener \u201cSong for Clay (Disappear Here)\u201d combines driving drumbeats and bombastic production courtesy of Garrett \u201cJacknife\u201d Lee (U2, Snow Patrol) with lyrics of nihilistic disillusionment (\u201cI am trying to be heroic, in an age of modernity\u2026but in my heart I am lukewarm, nothing really touches me\u201d) inspired largely by Bret Easton Ellis\u2019 Less Than Zero. <\/i><\/p>\n
Diverging from the charming eclecticism of Silent Alarm, A Weekend in the City <\/i>achieves its own unique strength from a more realized, cohesive vision. Ensuing songs \u201cHunting For Witches\u201d and lead single \u201cThe Prayer\u201d sizzle with sinister energy. The former implicates the media in perpetuating xenophobia while \u201cThe Prayer\u201d lends a nod to TV on the Radio with its texturized synths and frantic drums. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe Uniform\u201d is the album\u2019s centerpiece, an epic indictment of our MTV generation. The song slowly builds from hushed guitars to earnest pleas for something to hold on to: \u201cI am a martyr, I just need a motive\u2026I\u2019m a believer, I just need a cause.\u201d <\/p>\n
But despite all that hard-edged cynicism, flashes of emotion always manage to rise above the bleakness and despair; while \u201cI Still Remember,\u201d which illustrates a burgeoning relationship between two schoolboys, is a subtle kiss-off to rumors dogging lead singer Kele Okereke\u2019s sexuality. What truly resounds in the track is its elegant, vivid lyrics, sentimental without ever being trite. <\/p>\n
A Weekend in the City<\/i> is a brilliant album despite its flaws; it still leaves Bloc Party room to grow and improve, to flesh out a tendency towards over-seriousness, and to build on the promise here of sense of possibility and humanity amid desolation.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":48,"featured_media":28706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[7796],"rating":[5617],"class_list":["post-40198","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-bloc-party","rating-rating-b-plus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/48"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/40198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=40198"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=40198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}