A slightly dissapointing Weekend

Bloc Party's sophomore album, A Weekend in the City, details 48 hours in London, and finds the band reaching for something they can't quite reach. Gone is the brashness and swagger of their debut (Silent Alarm,) with the lads instead seemingly trying to turn every song into an epic event. The fact that they've got Jacknife Lee behind the board on the recording/mixing certainly gives credence to this, as he did the same thing with U2's How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb.

Album: Bloc Party - A Weekend in the City

It's not a bad release, it just can grow tiresome, with the claustrophobic production making the songs sound too similar at times. There's not a bad song on the album, but there's also no "Helicopter," or "Banquet" or "Like Eating Glass" (or "Luno" or... you get the picture.) The closest they get to Silent Alarm-like greatness is with the song "Hunting For Witches," which starts out like Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio" before breaking into something like "Banquet" version 2.0.

Another song that's sure to be discussed is the beautiful "I Still Remember," which remembers a romantic encounter between school boys. The content of which (along with "Kreuzberg") has lead singer Kele Okereke not necessarily coming out of the closet, but at least talking to the rumours that he's gay. Kele's vocals are so sincere in every song, you either have to applaud or cringe after awhile, but at the very least know that he's serious about what he's singing about. And when all is said and done, there's something to be said for pulling it off in a scene that prides itself on irony and distance from the lyrics.

tags: music, album review, bloc party, indie rock, new release, rhapsody