release date: Apr. 21, 2022
format: digital (12 x File, FLAC)
[album rate: 3,5 / 5] [3,68]
producer: Nick Launay, Adam Greenspan
label: Infectious Music - nationality: England, UK
6th studio album from Bloc Party comes more than six years after Hymns (Jan. 2016) and is made with Launay and Greenspan - a somewhat remarkable producer duo. In the early 80s Nick Launay was already a producer for Virgin Prunes, Killing Joke, Gang of Four and Australian bands like Birthday Party, Midnight Oil, and The Church. He later produced for INXS and The Armoury Show, and in the 90s and into the new Millennium he produced for David Byrne and Nick Cave. In comparison, Greenspan appears a somewhat more unknown producer who has worked as sound engineer for Arcade Fire (on The Suburbs) and he has produced for indie rock bands such as Maxïmo Park and The Veils. Together, they have worked on the critically acclaimed Push the Sky Away (2013) by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, where Launay is credited as co-producer and Greenspan was responsible for mixing the album, but they have since then functioned as a producer-duo on several releases.
Alpha Games shows once again that Bloc Party is not an easy act to bring to a halt, even though several times over the years there have been rumors that the group faced a final career break. In the past it has led to changes in the group's line-up, which has supported the rumours, but at the same time there always seems to have been a stable core of songwriter and lead vocalist Kele and the band's musical focal point in guitarist Russell Lissack. The album Hymns was made as a duo-project after being abandoned by first the group's longtime drummer Matt Tong and later, shortly before recording the album, bassist Gordon Moakes. Kele and Lissack carried out studio recordings with studio musicians and subsequently succeeded firstly by filling the vacant seat as drummer with a quite young Louise Bartle and then also the role of bassist thanks to American musician Justin Harris, who featured on Hymns as studio musician, and now, six years down a new path, it is still this constellation that makes up Bloc Party.
Musically speaking, the group has moved in many directions since the starting point as an energetic post-punk revival act, and for fans and critics the band has behaved like a fish in water - a band you could never really know for sure where to place, or where they where they were going - which may have been one of the reasons for lukewarm reviews from confused reviewers, but releases in various styles may also have confused fans. On the other hand, you may argue that very much like front figure Kele, who has himself released albums characterized by quite different styles, such as electronic dance-pop and then even singer / songwriter folk, Bloc Party has insisted on making exactly the music they themselves felt was just right at a certain point. When they thundered out on the scene as one of the hottest names alongside American band Interpol, the easiest thing would have been to continue in the same groove, but no, they immediately plunged into another direction, and from that into another, etc., all while their stylistic dribbles hitched many off - and perhaps in the process itself both lost a drummer and a bassist.
Alpha Games offers a revisit of Bloc Party classic in the sense that the post-punk revival element is back, but not in a pure rock-universe, but in a more nuanced picture with elements drawn from a bunch of other styles. You'll find alt. dance and indie rock in a mix with the addition of a fingertip of electronic without losing the sensation of a complete expression. There is recycling and inspiration from their own previous releases, but it all still sounds like a brand new album that stands on its own feet. In many ways it sounds like an album they could have released in the wake of the great Intimacy (2008), but it doesn't just work that way and without Four (2012) and Hymns, Alpha Games would never have resulted in the album we now face. Justin Harris and Louise Bartle have played that many times together with Kele and Lissack over the past years that they now contribute to a new chapter in the band's long history, which nevertheless 'only' counts six studio albums.
Alpha Games is already an album that (once again) divides the waters. Some critics (Pitchfork) call it a mixed pleasure and cling a bit too much to Kele's lyrical universe, while others (Clash and PopMatters) praise the album's musical qualities. To my ears, the album mostly gives good reason to wish for more releases in the future, knowing that with Bloc Party no one can really tell what will happen. But until then, enjoy this energetic outing, which is even something as conservative as the album original fans could wish for.
An exciting and recommended effort.
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