Bloc Party - Intimacy

Bloc Party's debut album Silent Alarm defined a change in music taste and life for me. It's still up there as one of my favourite albums of the 00's and, upon listen, brings back some fond memories. Tracks such as 'Banquet', 'Helicopter' & 'So Here We Are' stood out on a critically acclaimed debut and shot Bloc Party to the top of most peoples 'best of' lists.

Sophomore album A Weekend In The City received mixed reviews. It showcased a band that were keen to progress through experimentation. Although it was certainly wasn't up to the same standard as Silent Alarm, it had some great tracks, and showed that the band were not content with sticking to one sound, which tends to be the downfall of new bands nowadays.

Bloc Party then took some Radiohead-like initiative and announced on 18th August - via their first ever live web chat - that their third album, Intimacy, will be available digitally on 21st August. Fans can pre-order the cd via Bloc Party's website, giving them a digital copy of the album straight away. The track listing is as follows:

01. Ares
02. Mercury
03. Halo
04. Biko
05. Trojan Horse
06. Signs
07. One Month Off
08. Zephyrus
09. Better Than Heaven
10. Ion Square

Upon the first few listens, its obvious to any Bloc Party fan that this is their most experimental album to date. When i first heard 'Mercury' a few weeks ago, i wasn't entirely sold on the new sound. However, once you hear it as part of the LP then its starts to make sense.

I'm not going to go into great deal about each track. I will however point out that 'Halo' and 'Signs' are stand out tracks from the off. Each taking us back to the Silent Alarm days whilst demonstrating the progression the band has made over the past few years. Closing track 'Ion Square' is immense. Its a perfect album closer that would have fit perfectly into any one of the three albums and possibly one of the best songs the band have made to date.

Its fair to say that Bloc Party are still up there as one of the UK's most promising bands. It may sound out of place that i use the word 'promising' upon the release of their third release. This merely displays that fact that they are not content with one sound. The move to the next step every release and keep pushing boundaries for both the band and the listener.

http://www.myspace.com/blocparty


BAM