Album Review: Bloc Party - Intimacy

One has to respect Bloc Party for their utter refusal to play safely into the desires of their audience. The majority of the world would be satisfied with a reprise of Silent Alarm, the London art-rock quartet’s occasionally majestic (though, let’s face it, a bit overlong) debut LP. Hell, if the jump their fan-base took after the release of A Weekend in the City, the band’s occasionally interesting (though, let’s face it, more than a bit overproduced) second LP, more than a few people wouldn’t even mind a reprise of that. But screw the whims of the fans: Bloc Party have, with latest album Intimacy, again chosen to follow their collective muse, transmuting themselves into something at once more polished and more heedless than their previous incarnations. And the results are remarkable. Occasionally. Read more