Bloc Party: “The Prayer”
A new year, a new look for the single reviews; here we go.
It’s well documented that Bloc Party were considerably displeased after finding themselves firmly pigeonholed into the dance rock category when the dust had settled around their sterling debut, Silent Alarm, in 2005. Frontman Kele Okereke even expressed a regret for having named the band Bloc Party due to the implications one takes away from the “Party” aspect of the name and made it clear in nearly every interview from that time to the release of their new album that A Weekend In The City would see the band exploring a new sound and redefining themselves in a whole new way. Thus, we have “The Prayer”, a track set to knock you off your feet and reevaluate your entire stance on the band.
Yes, it’s still technically rock music and yes, you can certainly dance to it, but to call it dance rock? Well that would just be all wrong, now wouldn’t it? You see, whereas Bloc Party defined their sound on Silent Alarm with disco-ready anthems like “Banquet” and “She’s Hearing Voices”, with their searing, angular guitar riffs and rapidfire percussion sections, “The Prayer” finds the band at their darkest, most ominous and - thanks to production from Jacknife Lee - most supermassive yet. Gone are the razor-sharp licks of guitarist Russel Lissack - completely, it would seem, until that “unplayable” guitar solo rears its head and bursts forth from the mix in the song’s final minute. And Matt Tong’s superhuman drumming? Well, it’s decidedly more human here, all martial stomps and handclaps that seem almost insultingly straightforward considering the unrivaled abilities he displayed on the band’s debut. But that’s not to say any of this is a regression; nay, it’s actually quite a huge step in the band’s new, more electronic direction.
Formerly titled “A Prayer To The Lord” and described as “Bloc Party crunk” by Okereke, the track opens with those huge drums before Kele begins his prayer that he might summon all the wit and confidence needed to survive a night on the town amongst the tropes of cooler-than-thou hipsters in the East London party scene. Ominous, almost monk-like chants set the dark atmosphere of the song at the back of the mix just as your starting to wonder where this is all going, but then that massive chorus, easily Bloc’s biggest yet, hits and that ice cold synth line takes off for the ether and it all comes into focus. Harder, bigger and stronger than their previous offerings to date, “The Prayer” is Bloc Party’s new statement of intent: it keeps the kids moving and appeals to all (the single’s #4 debut on the charts serves as a pretty loud exhibit A), yet provides no category within which to pigeonhole the band. Brilliant.
What’s more, it doesn’t stop there. Bloc Party have always had one of the finest pedigrees of B-sides of any band in the indie-rock scene, but they’ve outdone themselves here. Of the 11 incredible B-sides to surface on the day of the album’s release, The Prayer single boasts two of the absolute best in “England” and “We Were Lovers”. “England” first saw life as “Blue Moon” and provided fans a first taste of Bloc’s new sound when it was premiered on tours throughout 2006. However, while the original was a song of longing for lost love and the fight to keep hope alive, its new incarnation is an examination of life as a rebellious young person in Great Britain. “I will not listen and I won’t be told”, Okereke sings over a steady drum beat and fractured guitar riffs that echo off the walls of the mix, illustrating the cruelty and lawlessness of British youth through tales of “happy slappings” and random acts of violence. Despite it’s subject matter, the song is beautiful and would have provided a worthy addition to A Weekend In The City, but it’s “We Were Lovers” that really steals the show here. Formerly called “Cells Shaped Like Stars”, the original version of the track saw limited circulation on the internet when the studio version leaked to a lucky few last year and then larger exposure when a decent live version surfaced later. All who heard it immediately fell in love with the song’s brilliant “In our bodies! In our bodies! There are cells, shaped like stars” chorus, one of Bloc’s best and most exciting to that point, so it was a bit of a crushing blow to find that the song’s lyrics and chorus saw a complete overhaul in the final version. That said, “We Were Lovers” is still an amazing track as good as anything off A Weekend In The City, and the chorus still hits as hard as anything Bloc’s put out to date, nearly making one forget the brilliance of its predecessor.
MP3s:
“The Prayer” - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
“We Were Lovers” - Bloc Party ((highly recommended))
Finally, as if all that weren’t enough already, the single produced a slew of great remixes as well. However, despite excellent efforts by Phones and newcomers Does It Offend You, Yeah?, it’s an unofficial “indie grime” remix from the crazy kids of Hadouken! that owns them all. Pick up a few of the tracks below, but The Prayer single is really one of the most complete singles ever to be released, with brilliant new content spread over more than five different formats, and is wholly deserving of your purchase. And why not, especially when you can cop this Limited Collector’s Edition Box Set(!!!) at RecordStore UK containing all the formats for only £2.50. Deal of the century? Just maybe.
Bonus MP3s:
“The Prayer” (Hadouken! Remix) - Bloc Party
“The Wamp Wamp Prayer” (Bloc Party vs. Clipse) - team9
And ALSO, this just in: Bloc Party will be releasing their next UK single, “I Still Remember”, on April 9th complete with even more B-side goodness… INCLUDING A REMIX BY MOTHERFUCKING SEBASTIAN! I really don’t think I could possibly be more excited, I’ve seriously been praying for a Bloc Party remix by SebastiAn or Justice every night before I go to bed, and my dream (or at least half of it) has finally been realized. So pumped. Check out the complete details of the single and pre-order all three formats of it (in another box set deal) here.