It has, on occasion, struck me as odd how cyclical music has become. Whether it’s a dearth of ideas or the easy face of nostalgia, a large portion of new music has a very familiar feel to it. If you haven’t been paying attention, the hot area of exploitation is early 80s music, particularly post-punk and new wave. Acts ranging from media-whores the Killers to critic darlings The Futureheads are being called New New Wave. Perhaps the biggest buzz of all belong to Bloc Party (Don’t believe me? Just check out the press section for the band on Vice’s website to see the staggering number of magazines creaming their pants). Bloc Party definitely belongs more to the post-punk camp than new wave. “Silent Alarm” is full of disco-esque drums, stop/start bass, skittering guitars and anthemic choruses. However, Bloc Party are post-punk in the same way Franz Ferdinand was: they use the form as a blueprint to write catchy pop songs. Herein lies both Bloc Party’s strength and their failing. “Silent Alarm” is a fun and very accessible album, but really strips much of the heft and edge of the original progenitors of British post-punk, the oft-cited groups such as Wire, Gang of Four, and Public Image Ltd.
It would be unfair to suggest that Bloc Party are simply a post-punk rip-off band, but there are moments on “Silent Alarm” that bear the undeniable stamp of influence from the above-mentioned bands. The quick sing-speak on the verses of “Positive Tension” recalls the Wire classic “1 2 X U” before the song applies the “Take Me Out” stuttering disco treatment to the second half. First single “Banquet” manages to wrestle a gleaming and endearing chorus from the now-familiar formula. “Price of Gas” evokes the rumbling bass and eerie atmospherics of P.i.L. before switching to a textbook post-punk chorus. The first generation of bands to mine the rich territory charted by 80s post-punk seemed to at least add their own elements (for example, early Liars added a spazz-core noise texture; the Rapture interjected a Bowie theatricality and, well, cowbell). Bloc Party’s interpretation of post-punk, however, for the most, feels re-heated and uninspired.
“Silent Alarm” succeeds more fully when Bloc Party reaches beyond their genre designation into other areas of British and indie rock. “Blue Light” is one of Bloc Party’s finest moments, a pretty ballad mixing the Smiths with a surging guitar breakdown in the middle. The track shows the affecting softer singing style of front-man Kele Okereke. Okereke can be a valuable singer, but he also oversteps the line between urgent and grating, especially the nearly Emo strident vocal delivery of “Pioneers.” “This Modern Love” features sentimental lyrics and sad-sack guitars, but also carries an effective vocal arrangement, and a fine singing performance by Okereke.
Bloc Party occasionally sets their minds to actually tearing through a song, and these songs are revealing in their immediacy and power. “Helicopter” is a fun romp with interlocking guitars and call-and-response vocals, not to mention an indelible chorus hook. It resembles nothing exactly, but is closest to Blur’s conversion to eccentric guitar rock. “Luno” shows off drummer Matt Tong’s impressive ability to play super quick yet tight beats. The band rallies around this potency and imparts a genuinely original and thrilling song. It’s clear that Bloc Party has the chops and the occasional desire to unleash a torrent in the spirit, if not the style, of post-punk. However, so much of “Silent Alarm” is very restrained. The album ends with two songs, “Plans” and “Compliments,” that tread in the mid-tempo washy malaise of Coldplay.
It occurs to me that perhaps I’m not the audience for Bloc Party. And, surely, if you are a fan of ANYTHING that sounds like it owes a debt to the early eighties, you will probably like “Silent Alarm.” The same holds true if you kept your copy of “Franz Ferdinand” on repeat. At the same time, I don’t exactly understand the unadulterated praise being heaped on Bloc Party. “Silent Alarm” is likeable, shows some skill, has winning production, and yet ends up being a bore at times. Even granting some leniency for a first album, you would think the hottest band in the land would offer a bit more. |