Review - A Weekend In The City

CD Info Box
Artist: Bloc Party
Album: A Weekend In The City
Label: Wichita
Released: 2007

2005's Silent Alarm was one of the first albums I bought. For that reason alone I was excited about the second album from this group of 4 'University Challenge contestants'. They haven't disappointed. Here's how the albums 11 tracks break down.

Track 1: Song For Clay (Disappear Here)
Referring to the Bret Easton Ellis novel 'Less Than Zero' (which I actually have on my desk right now). In that book the title character (Clay) discovers the LA underworld for rich kids, a world of drugs, sex and violence. The same theme sets out the stall for this album, the song begins with Kele crooning "I am trying/to be heroic/in an age of modernity" and it flows from there from a Snow Patrol-esque guitar part into the sort of riff you'd expect to see on a Billy Talent album. Its quick, raging and an exhilarating start.

Track 2: Hunting For Witches
No other singer could pull off a song like this without sounding hypocritical. Its a song about the racism ingrained in British society that came surging out (aided by the namechecked Daily Mail) after the 7th July bombings. After Song For Clay this is the big smash into the aims of the album, Kele's voice is fierce and confident and he tears into the song.

Track 3: Waiting for the 7.18
Work. This one is about getting away from it and forgetting everyday life. Again it starts as Snow Patrol before fully blossoming into unmistakable Bloc Party, its a transition that can grate sometimes but for a transitional song (moving from everyday life into the weekend) its the only way to make it really.

Track 4: The Prayer
So we've been through the week and the horrors within and now we've entered the club and start drinking. The lyrics show someone who wants to be looked at, admired, idolised and made to feel important. Again its back to getting away from work and a life you might not be happy with. Matt Tong really comes into prominance here with his drumming being the base that the song was built on, really its unthinkable to have this song without that drum track. As the first single too you're already likely to know the words to this one, cue the first singalong track of the first listen. Rest assured though it isn't the last.

Track 5: Uniform
Raging and ranting about the evils of drink and racism is all well and good, but in the end they're nice easy targets. Now its on to young people and teenagers. "We can't be hurt" is the call from the end of the chorus, "TV taught me how to sulk and love nothing" is another from the second verse. This is a full frontal attack on people who might be BP fans, "We tell ourselves we're different" is the key line for listeners to think about as they absorb another guitar tirade that sounds like it belongs more on a Trivium album.

Track 6: On
Cocaine. Drug of the middle classes, taken at dinner parties and provider of a haven again for people who hate their jobs. Its not a rant though, its drawing attention to and highlighting the key things that make it popular in the first place. Its now that you notice that this isn't a preaching album, and by avoiding the obvious route of damning and condemning drug use and instead reminding us of why its done in the first place it adds more weight and credibility to the song.

Track 7: Where Is Home?
And we're back to racism, or generic discrimination. One line tells us everything about this song. "In every headline we are reminded that that this is not home for us". A pure and glorious anthem for everyone listening who doesn't quite feel safe where they are. The big distinguishing point though is that there are barely any guitars in this for at least 2 minutes, the first half of the song more or less just Kele singing over Matt's drumming. That's not something I've ever heard, never before have I heard someone singing just to a drum track.

Track 8: Kreuzberg
If you know what the next 2 songs are about then they will hit you hard. If you have experience of the theme then you will most likely choke up while singing or shed a tear while listening. The line that sums this one up forms the chorus alone. "After sex/the bitter taste/been fooled again/the search continues"

Track 9: I Still Remember
Single #2 and its a beautiful ballad about being in love with someone but being too scared to make a move. The kicker is that the 2 subjects of the song aren't necessarily from opposing genders. That's what makes it special, that's what makes it different.

Track 10: Sunday
Waking up the morning after the night before, someone next to you but you don't know who it is. The special thing about this song is the roles of the 4 band members, Kele on guitar and vocals, Russell Lissack on guitar, Matt Tong on drums, Gordon Moakes on drums. Its dual drumkits for this one and again its an example of the group pushing the template to find new sounds without changing instuments or sounding pretentious.

Track 11: SRXT
The anti-depressant drug Seroxat has been linked to suicides in teenagers. The company that makes it denies that, despite evidence that says they knew about it. This is a suicide note at the end of the weekend, going to a peaceful area of the countryside and ending it. Its not funny, its not clever and its not a good thing. The song though is beautiful and again its not preaching, that one point sums up the album and once its all done you have to admit that this is the only track that could possibly end it.

Final Words
A Weekend In The City is beautiful, heart wrenching, peaceful and unsettled at the same time. I cannot remember another album that has ever captured my imagination in the same way, its a massive leap from Silent Alarm and puts Bloc Party in the league of their own that they really deserve. Right now there is no band in the UK or even the world that has the same sound or ability, however the only way to experience it properly is to know what the songs are about, that's the only thing that dampens it. Without that knowledge the songs and messages could fall on deaf ears but even then there is enough poetry and musical genius here to overcome that.

Final Line
This is the sound of modern Britain, and this album is a wake up call that so many people need.
Nine And A Half (9.5)