It’s a been a big 24 hours for comebacks. First The Killers and now Bloc Party. This is the new single and it’s called ‘Octopus’. Right off the bat, very cool video – and a little like the one for ‘Popscene’ by Blur – so full points there. But obviously that counts for squat if the music’s no good – which it is. Pretty good, that is. Kele sings the verses in a delicate falsetto, with the aim being simply to kill time before things get moving. Then, a healthy dose “ooohhhs” before it all builds to an excellent, shouty chorus. Here Kele sings the nonsensical “I don’t know why, I feel like crying, so come on”. After a few listens, you might too. Meanwhile the guitar solo sounds like – of all things – the shredding at the start of ‘Thunderstruck’. As always, excellent drumming by Matt Tong. Anyway, to oversimplify things, ‘Octopus’ combines the singalong rush of Silent Alarm with the weirder sounds Kele has become more and more enamoured by. In the case of ‘Octopus’, that approach works fairly well. But it answers few questions about their upcoming album, Four. Are we seeing a return to more conventional rock songs, or is this simply a satisfying bump in an otherwise electro-obsessed road?
6 out of 10
Four is due out August 21.
Are you excited by the return of Bloc Party? Let us know.
