Intimacy

If it wasn't the name of this record, there's almost no way I'd use the word "intimacy" in relation to Bloc Party. Producers Paul Epworth and Jackknife Lee put their own distinctive sonic marks on the band's first two studio albums, but both made big, universal sounds rather than personal ones: Epworth's work on Silent Alarm introduced the group as cold and harsh, while Lee's A Weekend in the City was brash and flourescent-- a better fit for the band, even as singer Kele Okereke's increased candor has saddled his songs with clumsy, self-pitying lyrics. Still, thanks to the enduring goodwill they earned with that first album and their super-serious attention to craft, it wasn't unthinkable to view Weekend as their October, an endearingly awkward transition between a bracing debut and a masterpiece every bit as outsized as the ambitions of its creators. Sadly, album number three is less War than Evil Urges.

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