It would have been hard to predict the trajectory of Bloc Party’s career back when they took the world by storm with their devastatingly-amazing debut album, 'Silent Alarm'.
Not many bands can claim they’ve been on hiatus twice within the space of five albums. Yet, as they enter their 17th year of existence, Bloc Party are still going strong.
Their latest album, ‘Hymns’, sees a 50 per cent change in line-up after drummer Matt Tong left mid-tour in 2013 and bassist Gordon Moakes’s departure was broadcast via a simple tweet early last year.
They have been replaced by Menomena’s Justin Harris (the only Menomena member not to have started their own side-project with members of The National) and new drummer Louise Bartle who was recruited on the strength of a YouTube performance. "It’s been really good so far, the new guys are really good musicians, so everything’s easy enough,” lead guitarist, Russell Lissack says.
“Everyone’s really enjoying it and having a good time so far. Especially for Louise the drummer, she’s never done any touring before so it’s all fresh and exciting for her and it’s nice for us to have someone around who’s enthusiastic about everything."
The inclusion of such an established musician as Harris may make some wonder if this new line-up is a transitional stage of the band’s development or a more permanent arrangement. “The intention is for it to be a permanent line-up.
“Menomena are on a hiatus at the moment. We’ve only just started, the [new] album’s not out yet and we’ve already started writing new material. The current plan is for the four of us to take things forward."
Not ones to stay in the same place for long, their comeback song – 'The Love Within' – made it loud and clear that this was not going to be another call back to their earlier days. Its unique guitar line at the centre of the track paired with less busy instrumentation divided listeners and yet again confounded expectations.
They’ve never been ones to take the easy path, and with its introspective, more ambient tone, new album 'Hymns' seems to be picking up the pieces in the aftermath. “Picking singles has always been difficult, we never write songs with the intentions that a song is going to be a single.
“We always write a collection of songs and at the end of the process get into discussions about which songs are most suitable for a single. On the flip side, we’ve got a history that every time we put an animal album out we play the bold, first single which illustrates that we’re trying something different from the previous record."
It’s been a long time since 'Silent Alarm' set the world alight, and you have to wonder what the effect of having such an influential album at the start of a long career has on a band. “The success it had is a positive thing for us,” Russell admits.
“I think it hasn’t reflected the way we approach what we do. I can imagine some people have success then feel that pressure to repeat that and keep writing the same type of music over and over. We’ve always written music that we want to make regardless of whatever else is happening or what anyone else is saying."
‘Hymns’ is released 29 January.
