Bloc Party is not the most surprising act to come off of an "indefinite hiatus" in recent months but alt rock fans are still glad to hear the British act is working on a fifth studio album at the moment. The band had previously declared a vacation of ambiguous length during 2013, which was the first time since 2009 that the group had taken time off (from Rolling Stone). In other words, this happens frequently.
It hasn't exactly been that long since we've gotten new material from the band. It released an EP, The Nextwave Sessions, during 2013 prior to the hiatus and last launched a full studio album during 2012 with Four. Vocalist and guitarist Kele Okereke said that the album sounded totally different than previous releases, while acknowledging that in itself sounded like typical album hype.
"It's sounding like nothing that we've done before but that's what everyone always says," he said during a radio interview. "We've always had very disparate elements to our music...this record feels like an evolution of where we were. So far there's nothing that I can compare it to really in terms of other musicians, whereas in the past I always could-we were always trying to reference something else. I feel that this is very much our own record ... I'm very excited by it."
He also played a short clip of a track titled "Exes," an acoustic tale of heartbreak from what we can tell, based on the quick listen. No word on whether that track will be featured on the album, or if it will remain an acoustic number. Okereke reports that the band has 18 songs ready to go, but it's doubtful each will end up on the final product.
There's also no word on whether fans should expect the new music by the end of the year. The vocalist reported that most of the recording will theoretically happen this summer, after he wraps up his tour with his solo project, supporting his current album Trick.
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