If Bloc Party’s last album, Four, seemed like a comeback album, Hymns is more of an evolution. Prior to the album, two original members left, bassist Gordon Moakes and drummer Matt Tong, to be replaced by Justin Harris and Louise Bartle respectively.
Released a few months ago, lead single The Love Within divided fans and critics alike. It’s extremely polarising due to a strange drumbeat and warped effects, but it grows on you considerably. Only He Can Heal Me is a little bit more subdued; a pulsing yet relaxed synth underpins the instrumentation, while Kele Okereke’s vocals shine.
So Real pushes his vocals to the fore, and they are simply sublime. Try to not get lost when he croons, “What am I supposed to do / When the only good thing about me was you?” The album’s second single, The Good News, keeps in line with the album’s biblical theme (which seems to be a comment on the way the youth has substituted religion for other, often frivolous things). It’s one of the album’s strongest tracks, culminating in the lyric, “I used to find my answers in the gospels of Saint John / Now I find them at the bottom of this shot glass”.
Different Drugs is about struggling to communicate and keep a relationship together when you’re not properly compatible; Into the Earth has a country vibe, but it also houses some of Okereke’s best wordplay to date; and Living Lux is a sonically diverse number to round out the album.
Hymns is the sound of the new Bloc Party, and it’s fucking great. Bloc Party have evolved and are pushing the boundaries, and those who can get over the fact they’ve changed their sound will be handsomely rewarded.
BY ALEXANDER CROWDEN
