Bloc Party made a huge splash in 2005 with the release of their incendiary debut album, "Silent Alarm." Drummer Matt Tong's technical chops and hyperactive punk syncopation drove the band's raw instrumentals, while singer Kele Okereke wailed his way through the electrifying freshman effort.
Bloc Party thrilled rock fans everywhere with this new style that crammed punk, alternative and indie into a hard-edged but highly danceable sound.
On their second album, "A Weekend in the City," these four London twenty-somethings have obviously figured out that they are the "it" band of the moment.
Unfortunately, this has caused the follow-up album to incorporate heavier production and a broader array of influences, which only ends up proving that Bloc Party was better off when they stayed true to their indie-punk niche. While overzealous at times, Bloc Party really hits its stride on the less cluttered tracks, those that sound more like "Silent Alarm" and less like the result of producer Jacknife Lee's self-indulgent vanity.
The new album begins with "Song for Clay (Disappear Here)," a track that makes the listener wonder whether Bloc Party has stopped taking cues from "London Calling" (1979) and begun to steal ideas from Coldplay's "X&Y" (2005) instead. The first thing we hear is Okereke's vocals, deliberately intoned to sound pensive, soft and delicate. A prominent synthesizer and a slightly distorted guitar accompany him. Then a second, overdubbed vocal track comes in, turning the melodrama up a notch with a brooding falsetto. "So I enjoy, and I devour, flesh and wine and luxury," he laments.
The unsyncopated and unexciting drums kick in and the guitar accompanying them sounds nothing like the raw style that dominated their freshman effort.
This time, the guitar's thick and meaty distortion belongs in an Evanescence tune, not an energetic, indie-punk song like the ones that we love from Bloc Party.
Okereke's lyrics have always hopscotched over an interesting divide between the thoughtfully profound and the irreverent; he occasionally sounds like he is parodying his own thoughts. It's fine when he intends to do so, like in tongue-in-cheek political critiques such as the album's second track, "Hunting for Witches," a statement against complacency toward political leaders' deceptions and manipulations.
On "Song for Clay," in which he critiques the superficiality of the same Los Angeles-esque celebrity culture that he indulges in, however, he comes off sounding forced and sophomoric.
That said, the creativity and ambition of Okereke's lyrics often prove emotionally stirring.
On "I Still Remember," the album's first single, Okereke beautifully unfurls the story of two heterosexual young men who share a mutual but unrealized attraction while hanging out one day.
Okereke proves his ability to craft striking images with his verse: "We wrote our names on every train / Laughed at the people off to work/ So monochrome and so lukewarm."
The song's music is simple and straightforward but rife with dynamic contrast, reminiscent of "So Here We Are," a hit off of "Silent Alarm."
What makes Bloc Party's music so exciting is that it thrives on suspense; it is always evading resolution - melodically, harmonically and rhythmically.
This element makes the music complex, but also keeps it fresh and entertaining. The band flourished with the raw sound of "Silent Alarm," on which the syncopation and unconventional chord changes stood out. On "Weekend," this tight band's musicianship is often subverted by loud synths, heavy distortion and drum machines.
Bloc Party's musical ambitions can cause the band to get ahead of itself, and the album's first UK single, "The Prayer," with its Timbaland-like production, is a perfect example.
Strange Gregorian chant vocals and hip-hop style drums throb in the background, while the melody Okereke sings hardly fits on top of the instrumentals. Quite simply, the song just doesn't work.
While the album is hit-and-miss at many points, Bloc Party's drug, sex and party-filled "Weekend" finishes strong. "I Still Remember," "Sunday" and the glorious final track "SRXT" cap the album.
If "SRXT" again proves that Bloc Party was taking notes while listening to Coldplay's "X&Y," then perhaps someone should turn the tables around and get Chris Martin's gang to learn a bit from the raw enthusiasm that Bloc Party punches out when they're playing at their best, keeping the music straightforward, the drumming high-powered and the lyrics poetic.
In these areas, Bloc Party has beaten Coldplay at their own game.
If Bloc Party had further embraced the raw, youthful power that made them great on "Silent Alarm," they would have made a superb second album.
As it is, "Weekend" proves perfectly listenable, despite the occasional overambitious and self-indulgent misstep.
