Kele Okereke’s fan-boy discommoding veer into bare-torsoed electro hedonism was one of the more pleasant surprises of 2010. On Bloc Party’s first album in three years, however, the frontman reverts to jangle-tastic Britrock type. A project that sets out to give the hardcore exactly what they crave, Four is an impressively solid suite of student-disco dispositioned rockers, catchy but, in the final analysis, strangely orthodox.
In effect, Bloc Party have stepped back, rather dramatically, from 2009’s dance-tinged Intimacy – single ‘Octopus’ for instance could pass for an out-take from their debut, Silent Alarm. In interviews Okereke has been making the point that Four is influenced by the London riots and the general discontentment of British youth. “I guess in times of crisis or turmoil I feel the need to write,” he said. “It was hard not to be inspired while the only contact I had with the outside world seemed to be these kind of very dramatic images.” But while Okereke sounds suitably angst-ridden it’s difficult to see the parallels between his depressive mind-frame and upheavals in British society. Fans of the band will doubtless adore every note but somehow this feels like Bloc Party in their safety zone.