Experiments on the Bloc
Bloc Party's Electro Urge is Sated; Varying Results
Bloc Party
Intimacy
Released on Oct 28, 2008
Intimacy is to Bloc Party what Sing The Sorrow was to A.F.I. On that album, A.F.I. supplemented its gothic punk with tinges of techno and inklings of industrial. Intimacy is similarly Bloc Party’s attempt to enhance its bouncy math rock with banging beats and other elements of electronica. The experiment pays off brilliantly on a handful of tracks and sounds mediocre on a few more, but the good definitely outweighs the bad and makes this album worth a listen.
Released digitally in August and physically on October 28th, Intimacy kicks off with the chaotic “Ares.” Though the track begins with Kele Okereke’s falsetto vocals swelling like synthesizers, the guitar soon screams like the sirens Okereke refers to towards the end of the song. When drummer Matt Tong lays down a busy beat and Gordon Moakes lets his bass notes drop like bombs, we know it’s war.
“Mercury” is the most electronically-altered song on the album, with Okereke’s pronunciation of the word ‘mercury’ alternately started and then stopped like a DJ scratching a record. Though the track might suffer from a little overproduction at the hands of Garret “Jacknife” Lee and Paul Epworth, it is still one of the best songs on the album. Behind sampled vocals and huge bass beats, big band horns hit accent notes and then let loose, echoing the free jazz frizz-out towards the end of Radiohead’s “The National Anthem.”
“Halo” has tight guitar hooks and reverts to a more familiar place for the band, but it ultimately feels like an Alkaline Trio song with Matt Skiba or Dan Andriano singing in a faux British accent. Thankfully, “Biko” quickly restores quality to the album. A slower, melodic song on the order of “Blue Light” from 2005’s Silent Alarm, “Biko” seems to be a conversation between friends or family members on opposite sides of the River Styx. At first, Okereke’s falsetto vocals sound more Xiu Xiu than Bloc Party, but over the course of five minutes, the band adds fancy electronic claps and off-tempo bass bumps into a wall of beautiful, brilliant sound.
Bloc Party is known for the bouncy math rock of “Banquet” and “Helicopter,” but their musical genius is just as evident—perhaps even more so—on tracks like “Blue Light” and “Biko.” On Intimacy, “Halo,” “Trojan Horse” and “One Month Off” are attempts at recreating “Banquet” and “Helicopter,” but for the most part, these tracks are mediocre at best and don’t measure up. “Signs,” with its synth-string symphony and hundreds of handbells, together with “Biko,” are examples of the band’s softer, slower and more emotive side. “Better Than Heaven” and “Ion Square” represent the best of both worlds, then, with enough rock to remain recognizable but enough emotion and electronic experimentation to symbolize a discernable shift towards a more mature, focused and lasting sound.
It remains to be seen whether Bloc Party’s experiment with electronica was a concept for Intimacy alone or if it will have a place in future releases. Though the band owes its popularity to math rock tracks “Banquet” and “Helicopter,” the band now has more than a handful of beautiful and brilliant tracks that can only be categorized somewhere between emo and electronic experimentation. Intimacy may be a shot in the dark in search of further developing that sound, with some hits and some misses, but it certainly promises well for the future.
High Point
With one handful of techno-tinged math rock tracks and another full of experimental emo ballads, the majority of the songs on the album are accordingly awesome.
Low Point
“Halo,” “Trojan Horse” and “One Month Off” were mediocre pop-punk tracks compared to the genius that surrounded them. “Zepherus” was on the right track but the beat sounded too much like Radiohead’s “15 Step” and the choir felt borrowed from Kanye West’s “Jesus Walks.”
Posted by Ben Wadington on Oct 29, 2008 @ 9:00 am
