For a long time, I've wanted to focus on one of the, in my opinion, most interesting things in music: The album. As much as the music listener of today is more and more likely to download his music track-by-track, if he even does pay for it, I still find the conceptuality and composition of albums intriguing. It interests me, how albums are put together - how the tracks are position through the record, and how they affect the overall composition of the album, as well as each other accordingly.I'm gonna start this running feature off with one of my favorite albums, Bloc Party's A Weekend In The City, from 2007. This was Bloc Party's sophomore effort, and reviewers and critics alike were very divided on it. Most agreed that it wasn't at all the same as the very energetic and very tightly knit guitar-oriented indie of the much acclaimed debut, Silent Alarm. But while some reviewers dismissed A Weekend... as an inadequate and incoherent mess, others delightfully embraced Bloc Party's courageous creation of a concept album in the midstof one of the album-format's toughest periods of crisis.
For a concept album it is. A Weekend... deals with numerous issues immediately surrounding Kele Okereke and his contemporaries' lives in the heart of metropolitan England. While the lyrical universe of Silent Alarm was often diffuse and metaphorical, A Weekend... often sees Okereke express himself in a very forthright manner. Mostly though, it is the lyrics' close alliance with their surrounding music throughout the record, that consolidates A Weekend... as not only guys with guitars, but guys with a point to be heard.
A Weekend In The City can be quite easily and relevantly divided into three parts. The first four tracks, ranging from opener 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here)' through 'The Prayer', are a collection of frantic and hectic songs, trying to fight the dilemmas and issues that loom around the corner for every a city dweller. This part of the album is dominated by heavy drumming, layers of synthesizer and an overall attempt to shove through the entire ordeal with pointy elbows.
The trio of songs in the middle of the record - 'On', 'Where Is Home?' and 'Kreuzberg' - marks a turn of events. There is a completely different presence and intimacy to these tracks, but also an urgency, most profoundly expressed on 'Where Is Home?', Okereke's grand outcry against discrimination and racial violence. Okereke himself is one who has bridged this gap, being a Black man in the predominantly White industry that is rock music. These three middle tracks are where it's at. In stead of trying to fighting problems with fists, Bloc Party now resolves to a different strategy. The entire mix and closeness of especially Okereke's vocals on 'Kreuzberg' are in stark contrast to the menacing drums and claps of 'The Prayer'.
The final three tracks have a much more serene nature, and at first glance display a feeling that this too shall pass. The lyrical universe reverts from dealing with drugs, violence, neglect and failure into dealing with the romance and idyllic coquettery of Sundays with your loved one, before squeezing out one last scream of anguish - albeit a graceful one - on the suicidal closer 'SRXT'.
'Uniform' is, in many ways, the centerpiece of the album, and connects to either and neither of the three parts. It is a long (the longest track on the record) and meandering story about the ignorant youth of today. Its comfortable and harmonic first part marks a change in ambience to the four tracks preceding it, yet from 2:27 onwards, aggressive drums and guitar squeaks display a return to the sense of alarm and urgency, albeit in a much more lyrically constructive way than on the album's initial songs. Musically, 'Uniform' is perhaps most akin to some of the latter tracks on the album, being the closest A Weekend... comes to the instrumentalisation and sound of Silent Alarm. 'Uniform' in this way becomes a crucial track, and as it comes to a close, the monolithic riffs and soli have again given way to pensiveness.
There is one track on this otherwise very complete album that sticks out like a sore thumb, and that is 'I Still Remember'. I simply cannot comprehend just exactly what made Bloc Party include this track, which wouldn't deprive the album of a thing. It sticks out especially as it is surrounded by four of the strongest and most persistent tracks of the album. The albums finest few minutes are when the cringeful and unforgiving 'Where Is Home?' concludes with its exigent and raw guitar-riff, and gives way to the blissfulness of 'Kreuzberg', that creeps under your skin, and silkily beguiles and embraces you with its unambitious splendor. It is no secret that this is one of my favorite pieces of music. There is something incredibly uplifting to the fact that simplicity can be so grandly captivating and beautiful as it is on 'Kreuzberg'. It fills me with peace, hope, trust and curiosity.
Epic 'Sunday' is another strong and life-affirming track on this album, mostly carried by its magnificent lyrics. But not exclusively, as it does require some sort of musical elegance to make lyrics as simply and precisely put as these, seem as strong and relevant as they do. And 'SRXT' is, in many ways, a typical closer. It deals with the gloomy issue of suicide, and could be seen as a slightly disconsolate way to finish off the album. But this track too hits home when Okereke explains: "If you want to know what makes me sad/well it's hope, endurance and faith/a battle that lasts a lifetime/a fight that never ends.", before dismissing the track and the album off into an epic instrumental finale, only to be interrupted by Okereke's voice and Gordon Moakes' glockenspiel bringing A Weekend In The City to a close.
While being a bit of a dystopy, the first part of the album is in many ways the most musically interesting. 'The Prayer', apparently one of the last songs to be finished for the album, kicks off with stomp-clap rhythms and hums, and is by far the track that distances itself the most from Silent Alarm in style, and points towards the increased electronic and big-beat influences of Intimacy, which was to be released a year and a half later. 'The Prayer' is one of the most vivid tracks on the album, and spins your head through images of drug-fueled raves, dark club-corners and dancing, sweaty people. It is also one of the few parts of the album, where Russell Lissack's distinctive style and use of pedals comes forth (at 2:54). 'On' is, with its lyrics, electronic drums and heavy use of samples and synths, very closely related to 'The Prayer', almost like a slightly quieter, darker and more ruminative big brother.
One of Bloc Party's great strengths is their high level of musicianship, which is perhaps one of the key reason why the change in focus from Silent Alarm to A Weekend In The City was mourned by many a critic. Other than guitarist Russell Lissack, it is very often the impressive work of drummer Matt Tong, that elevates Bloc Party from the rest of the indie posse. A good example on this album is 'Waiting For The 7.18', perhaps the world's most epic ode to commuting. Here, Tong's drumming gives the chorus and the outro an incredible energy and drive, very fittingly expressing the narrator's urge to one day leave the insanity of the stuffed morning-rush hour Tube behind and drive to Brighton on the weekend.
The talent of Bloc Party's musicians is also very distinct on opener 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here)' which is, perhaps alongside 'Kreuzberg', the albums strongest track. A very courageous, almost unison vocal intro leads the way, but the climbing synths indicate, that something else is boiling, and when the imperative drums of Tong and the magnificent riff of Lissack enter, 'Song For Clay (Disappear Here)' takes off, and becomes one of those tracks you just cannot hear too loudly and too often. The entire composition of the very distinct backing vocals, the clamant bass line, the guitar squeaks and the altogether splendid 'East London is a vampire'-bridge makes this one of the strongest openers heard in a long, long time.
Bloc Party's more extensive use of synths and crooked samples, such as the cut-and-paste radio sequence of 'Hunting For Witches' and the tapping of a guitar pedal on 'Uniform', reveals a band that has spent a lot more time in the studio this time around, and as opposed to Silent Alarm, which was developed live, A Weekend In The City is, for better or worse, a much more planned effort. It does kill some of the spontaneity evident on Silent Alarm, but richly rewards the listener with what is arguably Bloc Party's best album - definitely the most discussed and polarizing one. Through the conceptuality of the lyrics, the composition of the album, and the unique character of every track, my subjective perception renders discussion unnecessary. This is an extraordinary piece of work.
