Bloc Party /|\ Intimacy (2008)

Bloc Party
Intimacy (2008)
Genre: Indie/Alternative/Electronic/Post-Punk/Experimental/

1. Ares
2. Mercury
3. Halo
4. Biko
5. Trojan Horse
6. Signs
7. One Month Off
8. Zephyrus
9. Talons
10. Better Than Heaven
11. Ion Square
12. Letter To My Son
13. Your Visits Are Getting Shorter
14. Flux

Just a year after the release of their second album, A Weekend In The City, the British Indie-Rock band Bloc Party has released their third full-length album, Intimacy. This album, released digitally August 21st on their website, combines electronic beats, pulsating rhythms, and raw lyrics that rival that of The Smiths and The Cure. The British quartet got their start in late 1999 when lead singer Kele Okereke and guitarist Russell Lissack met each other through mutual friends at the Reading Festival. Bassist/vocalist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong soon joined, and in 2003 the band sent out a demo under the name Union. After several other name changes, the band settled on Bloc Party in September of 2003. After releasing demos to the band Franz Ferdinand and Radio One DJ Steve Lamacq, Bloc Party signed to Wichita (and Vice Records for the States) and released their first full-length album Silent Alarm in 2005. In 2007, Bloc Party followed up with A Weekend In The City. Now with their third album, Intimacy, Bloc Party has combined the experimental sound of A Weekend In The City and the raw lyrics of Silent Alarm and taken it one step further. The band has shown their diversity by experimenting with an electronic sound, layering vocals, and drum beats, and even adding trumpets in the second track, “Mercury.” At first listen, the album may sound too heavy and chaotic to be Bloc Party, but upon further listening you begin to notice the more lyrical, emotional side of Okereke’s voice and the careful placement of the techno-like beats that truly show how this CD is a combination of the first two previous albums. The album opens with “Ares,” a heavy guitar driven song with a fitting name (Ares is the Greek god of warfare) as Okereke sings about war and “dancing to the sound of sirens.” Ares then launches right into “Mercury,” continuing with the upbeat electronics but adding trumpets on top of it. The album slows down a bit in the fourth track, “Biko,” as you hear the raw, sentimental side of Okereke’s voice and softer, layered drum beats. The fifth track, “Trojan Horse,” takes the album back to the upbeat sound that remains fairly constant throughout the rest of the album. Songs such as “Signs,” which uses a glockenspiel, and “Zepherus,” which uses a choir in the background, further instill the unique, yet familiar sound Bloc Party has achieved by taking its two previous albums, combining those sounds, and then expanding on it. Intimacy ends with “Ion Square,” a dreamy and wistful song describing the good times in a relationship that brings the album full circle. Like the last songs on Silent Alarm and A Weekend In The City, “Ion Square” brings the album to a humble close, leaving you with a memorable melody to lose yourself in. You won’t realize the album is actually over until the first track begins to play again. Don’t let the electronic synthesis scare you. This album is not disco trash, but rather a well-blended mixture of great lyrics, upbeat sounds, and rhythms you can dance to. Bloc Party fans will not be disappointed, and any music-lover who enjoys a new take on the “indie” style will find this album refreshing and new. After the last song ends, you will find yourself caught up in an intimate affair.

-Sarah Gray(blogcritics.com)

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