Bloc Party gets back to basics with comeback album “Four”

By: Sarah MacDonald –

Titling their fourth record simply Four carries a heavier meaning than the little word can muster for Bloc Party’s comeback album. But it’s back to basics, back to what allowed them to rise to prominence in the first place, which is their flair for graceful, thought-provoking, yet straightforward rock and roll.

Having gone through a wave of ups and downs, solo records (Kele Okereke put out two, 2010’s The Boxer and 2011’s The Hunter respectively) and the general atmosphere of music shifting dramatically since their debut album Silent Alarm in 2005, Four captures the essence of what was good about music seven years ago and what made Bloc Party so great then.

Bloc Party are very good at being loud with a strong, pointed message. This time they took to re-focusing their sound which is reflected in their lyrics. As dark as they are, which they have always tended to be, they are beautifully crafted over, into, and through the spectacularly messy musical composition particular to the band. Their lyrics flow into the sound and the sound flows out of the lyrics.

Okereke sings “Pain is hopeful/ Pain is holy/ Pain is healthy/Pain heals” over raging guitars on “Coliseum.” Whatever it is that Okereke went through, and perhaps extended to the band, this sense of struggle is prevalent throughout the record. Struggle is, and always will be, one of the strongest themes Bloc Party could ever tap into, and it’s something that resonates stoutly with audiences. Okereke has a menacing, oft harsh tone in his songs, something almost ubiquitous and all-knowing that makes you want to pay attention.

But even the slower paced songs have a strong place within the record. “Real Talk” with its honest lyrics, such as “can we get real for a moment?”, soften the group’s tough exterior. It also illustrates light-heartedness as Okereke speaks at the end of the song, “I was just getting real”, which is both poignant and amusing.

Other strong songs on the record include single “Octopus”, “Day Four” and “So He Begins to Lie.”

This kind of acclaimed noisy garage rock does not have much of a place in music nowadays as it has evolved (which it should) but that is the beauty of Bloc Party’s Four. We needed an album like this. We needed a reminder of good things that can come out of a back to basics approach. While there’s a special quality to Four, Bloc Party isn’t quite there yet but by getting back to their roots they’ve created a promising foundation which may lead them down a path to create something similar to, or better than, Silent Alarm.