"He shows me creep shots that he took of me before we'd even been introduced." That's the line from Bloc Party's new single "Coming On Strong" that immediately stuck out to me. Kele Okereke almost snarls that lyric over a nasty, lurching bassline and tense, half-electronic percussion. Bloc Party's upcoming album Anatomy Of A Brief Romance comes after Okereke broke up with his partner of over a decade and was surprised to meet someone else. As the title suggests, the new album chronicles that fling. "Coming On Strong," the album's second song, is about the early stages, and Okereke says, "I like the fact that harmonically and musically it feels dark, sinister, like something is creeping up." It sure does!
Bloc Party are basically a legacy band now. Their landmark debut Silent Alarm turned 20 last year. (A planned co-headlining tour with Metric didn't work out as planned.) This year, they'll tour the UK with their contemporaries Interpol, and they'll also follow 2022's Alpha Games with Anatomy Of A Brief Romance. They recorded it with Trevor Horn, the UK mega-producer who made huge hits in the '80s and '90s, and I hear some of his sparkling maximalism in "Coming On Strong."
On the new album, Okereke tells the entire story of his fling, and it plays out sequentially, from initial attraction to breakup. In a press release, Okereke says, "Every lyric you're hearing on this record was something that actually happened to me. I had to tell the story, from start to finish." Below, check out the Charlie Pryor-directed "Coming On Strong" video, the tracklist for Anatomy Of A Brief Romance, and the dates for Bloc Party's tour with Interpol.
TRACKLIST:
01 "22.01.22"
02 "Coming On Strong"
03 "Love Bombs"
04 "Pigwig"
05 "Lagoon Blue"
06 "Muscleworks"
07 "Clark Kent"
08 "Worst Birthday Ever"
09 "Not Your Problem"
10 "Now We Can't Be Friends"
11 "Rotherhithe"
12 "Stories"
13 "Moving On"
14 "Eulogy"
TOUR DATES:
11/20 - Birmingham, UK @ Utilita Arena
11/21 - Cardiff, UK @ Utilita Arena
11/23 - Manchester, UK @ Aviva Studios
11/24 - Manchester, UK @ Aviva Studios
11/26 - Brighton, UK @ Brighton Centre
11/27 - Brighton, UK @ Brighton Centre
11/28 - Sheffield, UK @ Utilita Arena
11/30 - Dublin, Ireland @ 3Arena
12/02 - December Glasgow, UK @ OVO Hydro
12/04 - December London, UK @ Olympia
12/05 - December London, UK @ Olympia
Anatomy Of A Brief Romance is out 9/11 on cOnTAGIOUS LTD/Virgin.
