Bloc Party return with their forthcoming sixth studio album 'Alpha Games'. 'Alpha Games' is the band’s first studio album since 2016’s 'Hymns', and the first Bloc Party album written and recorded as this four piece; adding the musicality of Justin Harris (bass) and the unbridled energy and power of Louise Bartle on the drums to capture the spark of their live shows and to deliver the most exciting Bloc Party album yet.
'Alpha Games', produced by Nick Launay & Adam Greenspan (Nick Cave, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES), includes new single Traps, which sees the band returning to the raucous, high-octane sound of their earliest work in an outburst of propulsive post-punk. The album’s 12 tracks veer from the intense and confrontational (Traps, Day Drinker) to melodic and introspective (If We Get Caught, By Any Means Necessary), and marks a new and important chapter in one of music’s most important voices in Kele Okereke and important bands in Bloc Party.
“Alpha Games was conceived on the road, playing in front of amazing crowds on our last tour and then brought to life with the fire and the frustrations of 2020,” says Kele Okereke on Bloc Party’s first new album in seven years.
“We wanted to can what was happening at those massive gigs in 2019, to showcase what Louise can do, what Russell is capable of and most importantly the electricity coming off the audience. We knew that Nick & Adam were the right choice of producers to do that and the result feels like fire in a bottle.”
STAFF COMMENTS
Barry says: Bloc Party have always been keen on changing their sound between releases, with 2016's 'Hymns' favouring a more electronic approach, it's not entirely surprising that 'Alpha Games' is a scuzzy punk-rock indebted behemoth. We still get Okoreke's angular almost rhymical vocal incantations but this time they flow above a spitting, distorted scree and snappy percussive blast.
TRACK LISTING
1. Day Drinker
2. Traps
3. You Should Know The Truth
4. Callum Is A Snake
5. Rough Justice
6. The Girls Are Fighting
7. Of Things Yet To Come
8. Sex Magik
9. By Any Means Necessary
10. In Situ
11. If We Get Caught
12. The Peace Offering
