Bloc Party are back after a four-year absence with their new release Hymns. As the title suggests the album is about faith and devotion. After 16 years of “Loud, Spiky songs”, as singer Kele Okereke puts it, “and after making four albums, which were very abrasive, I wanted to make something more sensual, that took you in and hugged you, rather than hit you around the face”. Kele does however deny that the album is a religious epiphany. ‘Hymns’ does indeed have a spiritual dimension influenced by Okereke’s religious upbringing and the hymns he used to hear in school. But the band insists that the album is more of a musical ‘rebirth’. After a few tumultuous years with the departure of band members Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes, founding members Kele and Russel Lissack began writing together as a duo and were later joined in 2014 by bassist Justin Harris and 21 year old whizz kid drummer Louise Bartle.
In order to capture the band’s new creative energy, Deezer filmed Bloc Party at French Festival Le Printemps De Bourges. It’s good to see that Kele is as charismatic as ever; Hymns marks a new sonic departure for the band. Take a look for yourselves.
