British Inversion

On their third effort, high-octane guitar pop purveyors Bloc Party get personal.

Bloc Party
Intimacy
(Vice/Atlantic)
Rating:
Penthouse Pick: “Mercury”

Bloc Party’s first two albums established them as the bravest Britpop band in a decade, marrying singer Kele Okereke’s frustrations-political, romantic, and otherwise-to spiky blasts of postpunk angst.This is the band’s boldest state ment yet: a diary of a romance gone bad set against a cacophonous backdrop of a world at war. At times, this fearless embrace of newness pays off: The clattering single “Mercury” flirts with full-on techno, while the lovely, featherlight “Biko” is built around a chopped-up spoken-word sample. But more often than not, the sonic innovations outstrip the songs’ foundations. On the overstuffed “Trojan Horse,” a buzzing swarm of guitars distracts from the delicate lyrics (“you used to take your watch off before we made love”). It’s the sound of a band attempting to run before they’ve mastered walking.