Bloc Party - "The Love Within"

Bloc Party are back, with a new line-up and some new tunes. Hymns is upon us in January, but the band have released a couple of singles in the meantime. Thus, “The Love Within” should have been a exciting moment for fans, but ends up sounding pretty underwhelming.

A lot has been made of the rudimentary-sounding synth work - but for anyone who’s listened to Kele’s solo work, it’s lamentably familiar. Too much of the song seems spent on a slow build-up and meandering around the synthy bursts, but at the end of it all, Bloc Party’s ability to deliver a memorable chorus can’t be questioned.

But while holding onto some of their qualities is praiseworthy, the lyrical clichés just sound... clichéd. As much as the next guy, I love hearing Kele going on about looking for love, finding yourself and using drugs as part of both processes but, ten years after Silent Alarm, it's getting a bit tiring. Maybe past glories do make it hard to love Bloc Party’s new work. Again, great chorus though.