Intimacy [Yellow Vinyl]

Arriving only one year after their seminal sophomore effort A Weekend In The City, 2008 saw London post-punk auteurs Bloc Party pursue the more electronic-leaning aspects of their preceding work with utter abandon and disregard for those bemoaning a return to the guitar-based indie rock of Silent Alarm. Utilising a plethora of synths, loop stations and programmed drum machines, the subdued dance-punk of Intimacy is easily the band's most debatable album from their original run, with some praising their new sonic path while naysayers accused the members of overzealously rushing into their third full-length. Lyrically sequenced as a concept album based around the demise of a relationship in the city of London, complete with allusions to "Sitting in Soho trying to stay drunk", or the sobering, "When we started this it was paradise, not just Bethnal Green"; primary songwriter Kele Okereke continued to favour specificity and narrative clarity over the vague metaphors of his earlier writing, crafting an earnest, delicate, bombastic, seething and sincere collection of glitching trip-hop, angular post-punk and euphoric yet stoic synthwave. Long out of print, this overdue reissue comes complete with the two original deluxe edition bonus tracks 'Letter To My Son', and, 'Your Visits Are Getting Shorter', as well as the 2009 stand-alone single 'One More Chance'.