‘A Weekend in the City’, the follow up to 2005’s ‘Silent Alarm’ has a lot to live up to and it’s the dreaded second album which has seen many artists fall. Bloc Party have come into their own and seemed to have made great a second debut.
It kicks off with ‘Song for Clay (Disappear Here)’ which sets the scene of the album and the alienation Kele feels in a modern city and being in a band that should live up to the media’s hype. “Because east London is a vampire, it sucks the life right out of me” Kele sings with antagonism.
There is a much more personal feel about this release than the first, in which BP have written about things which have quite literally, pissed them off. ‘Hunting for Witches’, one of the early highlights provides a view on modern society and how the media controls more than we wish to know. The tempo and melodic-bass-filled songs carry on from Silent Alarm which only matures with time.
‘The Prayer’ is the song for all lead singers in a band, “Tonight make me unstoppable/and I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit” and the invincibility which many tend to eclipse their insecurities for the time being until they return to their original state. This song is for the moment, that split second or that tiny period of time when you’re ‘the dogs bollocks’ and don’t care for anything.
‘A Weekend…’ probably just falls short of ‘Silent Alarm’ but strangely, I like it more. This is not due to any lesser craftsmanship, the songs are bigger and intrinsically constructed. This album documents the lively, volatile rasp of the present times along with the boorish drags evident in everyday life.
Stephen 'Kokanez' Caines
Listening to whilst editing: Badly Drawn Boy - One Plus One Is One (2004)
1 comment:
I have been listening to Wilco, all of their albums, trying to catch up on their story so far.
You are very lucky, you have lots of festival with good music. You can even choose! here is different, good festivals are conspicuous by its absence.
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