Bloc Party - Intimacy

Rating:

* * *

With the release of

A Weekend In the City

a year and a half ago Bloc Party got over the difficult second album hurdle with ease. It was a more diverse, reflective and song-based move away from the beautifully abrasive and riveting debut

Silent Alarm

.

But every album's a difficult one these days, especially for a band who have been touted as much as Bloc Party. On third album

Intimacy

- first released as a download a few months ago and now in physical form - singer and songwriter Kele Okereke and his band of London lads have conjured up their most experimental, tough-sounding, and sonic release yet.

Often though, when they do experiment (like on opener

Ares

with its Chemical Brothers' big beats and swirling sirens) it comes across as nothing more than bleating, irritating nonsense. While

Ares

is not meant to be inviting, and designed more to make an impact first up, it's off-putting. As is the fractured and crackling backing to

Trojan Horse

. Then again, when that song winds up, with a shimmering guitar over the band's pulsing, mechanical beats, Bloc Party show how thrilling they can be.

And sometimes these nutty experimentations are genius. There's the climactic squeals and mashed up brass (like a trumpet being gently strangled) on single

Mercury

(video below), the sweet and pleading

Biko

has lashing electronics, eerie

Kid A

glitches and a hymnal synth-driven ending, and

Zephyrus

marries jittery beats and an Omen-like choir together seamlessly.

On a more traditional Bloc Party note

Halo

is a dance rock floor bender,

Talons

is another dance floor anthem akin to

The Prayer

off

Weekend

, and

One Month Off

could just as well be

Hunting For Witches

, also from that last album.

Overall though

Intimacy

is a hit-and-miss affair (with more hits than misses, it has to be said) but that's the risk you take when you're as prolific and brave as Bloc Party - two qualities many modern-day bands lack.

Scott Kara