During the final lines muttered on Bloc Party's 2005 release, Silent Alarm, lead singer Kele Okereke states: ""What are we coming to / What are we gonna do?"" While Silent Alarm flirted with a plethora of different themes ranging from aggressive bass driven post-punk masterpieces to electrifying house tracks, Bloc Party never entirely delved into any single expression.
Considering the fact that Bloc Party had undergone five name changes in a span of only three years, being indecisive musicians has been their key success. After listening to Bloc Party's newest album, A Weekend in the City, however, the listener quickly yearns for years past when Bloc Party was still ""cluelessly"" creative—instead of this cookie-cutter crybaby nonsense.
""Song For Clay (Disappear Here)"" could be best described as a band like The Mars Volta getting into musical fist-fight with Rammstein; relaying plenty of brusque elements shared by both distinct artists. ""Hunting For Witches"" sounds much like a hyper version of Annie Lennox's ""Sweet Dreams"" riff with new lyrics put over it—a little goofy, but fascinating nevertheless. ""I Still Remember"" shines as the best song on the album full of crescendos of multiple guitars that meld perfectly with Okereke's chilling voice.
After these three however, Bloc Party transforms into full-fledged emo group, firing eye-rolling pretentiousness at listeners with a series of sad-bastard tunes. The dreamy intro in ""Union"" may sound intriguing, yet after hearing the corny lines: ""The tear on my left cheek just dried up; it wasn't there / all the young people looked the same,"" you may actually taste vomit in the back of your throat. In the finale ""SRXT,"" Bloc Party ties the noose even tighter with a Death Cab for Cutie-style elegy that even includes a ""touching"" xylophone outro—good grief.
Even though the songwriting on this record is hardly robust, Bloc Party still manages to baffle listeners with illogical tangents in their lyrics. Some sample lines include: ""No-one can be trusted under the age of 14,"" ""If we get up now we can catch the afternoon / watch the under 15s play football in the park,"" and ""East London is a vampire."" That is the fun part about Bloc Party—it is one big crazy mad-lib put to music.
In a humorous aside, the track entitled ""The Prayer"" emulates one of those Under Armor commercials with militaristic hand claps while everyone anticipates Okereke to scream: ""WE MUST PROTECT THIS HOUSE.""
Certainly, A Weekend in the City was a far more dark and contemplative album than most fans were expecting. But in music, tears sell, and Bloc Party has decided they would rather make you cry than dance.
