It seems that you just can’t escape Bloc Party at the moment. This record is already selling by the bucket load and the world and his wife are predicting them to do a Franz Ferdinand. By which we can assume that we are going to be unable to move for the rest of the year without hearing songs from this album. There is a distinct difference however, whilst it would be churlish to knock Franz Ferdinand and their leap from indie darlings to mainstream stars their debut album had a distinct ring of disappointment for many of us. After a cracking couple of singles in the shape of ‘Darts of Pleasure’ and ‘Take me Out’ the album itself was not up to their early promise. Average at best it left a few heads being scratched that this should be the big album of the year at the expense of several much better albums released last year (Graham Coxon, Razorlight and Interpol all spring to mind).
There are no such problems for Bloc Party. ‘Silent Alarm’ is a more rounded, more interesting and generally better debut album. Like Franz Ferdinand, Bloc Party whetted our appetites with classic singles in the shape of ‘Banquet’, ‘Little Thoughts’, ‘Helicopter’ and the sublime ‘So Here We Are’. All of these with the exception of ‘Little Thoughts’ is included here and ‘Banquet’ and ‘Helicopter’ retain their funk punk bluster, all stop start guitars and that distinctive vocal style. ‘So Here We Are’ showcased a woozier, gentler sound that is explored further on the album.
‘Like Eating Glass’ sets the scene nicely, eerie guitar sounds and blunted drums lead to a fractured, yearning vocal before all coming together joyously in the chorus. After the abrasive ‘Helicopter’, ‘Positive Tension’ is jerky and slightly spooky, once again revelling in a great chorus. Elsewhere ‘Blue Light’ is a more conventional slower paced jangly indie tune before the drums kick off and take it to another level. This in essence is what makes this album so enjoyable, it is almost impossible to second guess where they are going to go next.
|
‘She’s Hearing Voices’, their debut single, is where those Gang of Four, post punk influences are most obvious (insert angular guitars description at will) and ‘Price of Gasoline’ covers roughly the same ground just as effectively with it’s ‘We’re going to win this’ rallying call. ‘This Modern Love’ is the natural next step from ‘So Here we Are’, shimmering and beautiful it supplies the breadth and depth that is the hallmark of this album. ‘Luno’ kicks off with a driving riff Queens of the Stone Age would admire, whilst ‘Compliments’ rounds things off with suitably moody atmospherics. The lyrics throughout are mysterious, clever and tackle everything from the personal to the political. Matched with Kele Okereke charismatic, singular vocal talents it’s a beguiling mixture.
Bloc Party have managed to deliver on the hype and it would be good to see an album that hasn’t hedged it’s bets and asks a little more of the listener to cross over into the mainstream. As a debut album it is breathtaking and I for one am looking forward to hearing it everywhere I go in 2005.
|
