One of the terrible realizations a band goes through after a successful debut album is that their fans expect a follow. It's a difficult task to tackle as artists wonder how much they should tweak their sound, how true do they want to be to their first album. All too often, the sophomore album haunts bands into producing their least successful one.
Glengarry Glen Ross has taught us, in the world of business, first prize is a Cadillac Elderado, second prize is a set of steak knives and third prize is you're fired. The sophomore album can make or break a bands reputation and career. However, in the world of indie, second chances are so rare; it's produce or hit the bricks, kid.
Bloc Party is made up of four young and politically active Englishmen. Political science majors need not read too much into the name, as the band has been adamant on numerous occasions that their name is not an allusion to the French Canadian separatists in the Bloc Quebecois nor our former communist friends in the Soviet Bloc. Instead, the name is a play off the obvious type of "Bloc Party," and the band chose to drop the K because indie bands think they're chic and do stuff like this to be special.
In 2005, the band released its debut album, "Silent Alarm." The British indie rockers drew high praise from everyone in the industry, even earning New Musical Express' Album of the year, which is about as close to a Grammy as an indie band could ask for. However, in the small market of indie, great success means Nissan and Toyota will sample your music to sell cars in their advertisements. Maybe if you're lucky, MTV will use your music in the background of the Real World. It's another one of those genre's that pumps out a lot of quality music, but is vastly under appreciated. However, with the success of "Silent Alarm," Bloc Party managed to make a name for themselves and thus the expectations of a solid follow-up album. A solid second album would slightly elevate Bloc Party out of the indie category into the mainstream, and that's where you get rich.
Bloc Party's release of "A Weekend in the City" should be a tutorial to any band as to how to deal with the sophomore slump. "A Weekend in the City" isn't the perky and spry album that "Silent Alarm" was. With this second album, Bloc Party set out to master the melancholy mood with great success in just 11 tracks. Songs such as "Uniform" and "Kreuzberg" have the kind of mellow but crisp sound that you'd find in a Wes Anderson film.
Other tracks like the band's first single, "I Still Remember," retain the more uppity and vivacious sound the band gave us in "Silent Alarm." By the end of the day, the album explores new sounds while not betraying its sound from "Silent Alarm" that put them on the map in the first place. It's a demonstration of experimental moderation that shouldn't go unnoticed.
Within its sound, Bloc Party packs a meaningful message exploring the political floor on issues such as violence and the environment. However, they do a wonderful job of using a little tact instead of preaching down our throats. It's there if you want it, but if you're not listening carefully, it'll pass you by.
In the end, if you're looking for an album to cheer you up, go find Now! That's what I call music vol. 28. If you want frisky and vivacious then go listen to the Pussy Cat Dolls or one of the dozen pop spin-offs. If you're looking for an album to hreflect the kind of mood most people find themselves in during these murky cold winter months then you'll find that "A Weekend in the City" is up your alley. It's a well-balanced diet of the not-so-artificial and synthetic. If you still have your doubts, you can listen to the entire album front to back at no charge on their myspace page.
