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BLOC PARTY - A WEEKEND IN THE CITY(Wichita Recordings)
Its one thing when a weekly music magazine hype your debut prior to release and you manage to live up to it and then some, but punters naturally expect the goods the second time round. Regardless of the pressures in hand Bloc Party have gone on to create a bold second effort. Produced at Grouse Lodge Studios (Ireland) with the help of Garrett “Jacknife” Lee, ‘A Weekend In The City’ is more politically charged and lyrically grounded and in their words “challenges Coldplay” over accessibility.
Burnt in and out with voice collages ‘Hunting for Witches’ is, strangely enough, a danceable song about Xenophobia in modern Britain, further downstream “Where Is Home?” also themes itself around hostility and discomfort and angst directed towards second generation citizens with ricocheting guitar flicks for extra lift. The two tracks provide a brilliant critique to a nation falsely recognised as a cosmopolitan one.
Waiting For The 7.18 documents the life of a Londoner ridden with frustration, Monday morning syndrome, nine-to-fives, and daily commutes. It’s a song centring on a character who has nothing to show for his/her life post graduation, reminiscing life experiences and wishing they took more risks and chances during youth. Climaxing with the plea “Lets drive to Brighton on the weekend”.
Continuing with modernists topics ‘Uniform’ critiques youth culture today and in particular the patterns amongst teensters and scenesters hanging out in malls being idle, following popular culture trends, abusing drink, drugs and others “when they have entertainment and things to pass the time".
One feature that made predecessor Silent Alarm such a hit for music fans was love, and Bloc Party haven’t departed from this notion. Tracks like ‘I Still Remember’ and ‘Sunday’ are memoirs of love past and present, which ooze confidence and nostalgia (“Our love could have soured, over playgrounds and rooftops”).
Singles wise, the first half of AWITC packs more punch than the latter which is much more sensitive and if you wanted to be harsh, “weaker” in comparison. The Prayer (the first single, shatters the amps with its drum loops and guitars humming like a beehive. Singer Kele Okereke voices his prayer for fulfilment with the words “tonight make me unstoppable and I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit”. ‘The Prayer’ and ‘On’ are both tracks depicting drug taking (“Hidden away in every old toilet…Rolled up twenties, they disappear”), not necessarily legitimating them but evocatively elaborating on why people choose and more so need to take them. The string arrangements ‘On’ embeds are sure to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand tall. These tracks are the centrepiece of the records fixation with the storytelling of how nowadays people just want to go out and get mashed. What better way for the album to comedown but “SRXT”.A track named after a widely used anti depressant drug. Inspired by his friend’s near suicide Kele pens the words “A battle that lasts a lifetime, a fight that never ends”.
A Weekend In The City is a record scored straight down the middle, coupling love and grit, an album which backdrops the state of a nation. Overflowing with intelligent beats and finely produced rhythm there’s no reason for it to not replica the success of its older brother. There’s no need to speak further, the album is summed up in its first line, ambitiously “trying to be heroic in an age of modernity”.
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