Bloc Party - Intimacy (2/4)

General thoughts on the record. I'll try to synthesize all this into a piece later. But for now..

1. Ares - Old school, heavy dance-punk Bloc Party. I love the distorted guitars and Kele's vocals are enjoyable. He's doing that yelping thing he did heaps on Silent Alarm.
2. Mercury - It's only similar to the rest of the album insofar as it's LOUD. I still think it's an awesome tune, the layering at the end has been described by one of my friends as a clusterfuck of bad ideas and by another as sonic mastery. I'd go more towards the latter, even though I don't think its entirely necessary.
3. Halo - This is the classic Bloc Party all of their fans clamor for. They carry a great riff and the chorus is catchy. So far, so good. By this stage I'm getting the feeling that this album is gonna completely disregard Weekend In The City (which I fucking LOVE.)
4. Biko - Oh wait, there's that sound. Kele is singing more on this track. It's cute, and the little skipping-record effect reminds me of Aphex Twin, or Trent Reznor's quieter moments.
5. Trojan Horse - Bloc Party kick back into Silent Alarm guitar mode with this interesting buzz filter. If only this album was a bit longer than 10 songs. :-/
6. Signs - This reminds me a lot of the kind of music Bjork was making in the Vespertine era. The xylophone melody give the album some diversity and it's good to have a bit of a break after something like Halo or Trojan Horse.
7. One Month Off - The driving drums hold this song together. Stupid 80's style synths in the chorus stop the song from being too similar, but it's probably one of the songs I'll skip more than I play. That said, it's good. Just not as good as the other songs. And the key change at 2:53 is fucking horrific.
8. Zephyrus - I guess Kele really took the criticism of his vocals on WITC to heart. He's not been 'singing' much this album. This song starts off with the programmed drums and some harmonic vocals and gradually builds up. It's an interesting song. The harmonies, again, remind me of Bjork but this time it's her Medulla period. Not a bad thing.
9. Better Than Heaven - The latter half of the album is definitely lighter on the guitars. More synthesizers on this song. They probably could have sequenced the record a bit better but I'm not really complaining. The chorus is a nice change, it makes the song one of the most listenable on the record.
10. Ion Square - WITC mode again. Intimacy is not as epic sounding as Bloc Party's last record, I think that's what they must have been going for though. Again, they gradually layer sounds as the song becomes progressively louder. I'm liking the electronica slant to this record. Great way to end the record.