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Bloc Party map heartbreak in reverse on ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’ and share ‘Coming On Strong’
Bloc Party announce Anatomy Of A Brief Romance, a personal album of love and heartbreak, and share the lead single 'Coming On Strong'.
Bloc Party have lined up Anatomy Of A Brief Romance, a seventh album that the band are framing as their most personal yet, and they have opened the campaign with the new single ‘Coming On Strong’.
The record, due out on September 11 via the group’s new label cOnTAGIOUS LTD through Virgin Music Group, is being presented as a chronological account of a love affair. It starts with the first spark and moves steadily through the collapse, ending in the kind of farewell that tends to linger long after the actual relationship has gone quiet. In that sense, it reads less like a conventional album cycle and more like a memoir set to music, spread across 14 tracks and produced by Trevor Horn, whose credits include Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.
Frontman Kele Okereke has made clear how closely the songs track his own life. “Every lyric you’re hearing on this record was something that actually happened to me. I had to tell the story, from start to finish,” he said, explaining that much of it came after he separated from the father of his children after more than a decade, then unexpectedly met someone else and fell in love again. “Having this romance, this new thing emerge, it kept me sane, in a very dark time,” he added, saying he now feels “less prudish about sex and connection and intimacy” and has “no qualms talking about it, because that connection is important”. He also said, “I don’t think I’ve ever been that candid in the past,” before noting that the album includes inside-jokes, sharp barbs and heavy emotions.
‘Coming On Strong’, the album’s second track, acts as the first public glimpse of that arc. It leans into the rush of early desire, with swirling guitars and a thumping drumbeat pushing the song forward. But the mood is not uncomplicated. As it goes on, a darker edge starts to creep in, suggesting that the relationship’s first bright moments already carry the hint of trouble.
Okereke described that tension as part of the appeal. “It’s that feeling of, I’ve had my eye on this person for a while, and then we’re finally in a situation where we can be something to each other. And that’s such a seductive feeling,” he said. “You’re not seeing their problems, and they’re not seeing your problems. You’re just shaping up and getting ready for this ride… [but] I like the fact that harmonically and musically, it feels dark, sinister, like something is creeping up.”
The album’s early tracks carry that intoxicated feeling of falling hard, before the back half turns to the slow recognition that things are fraying. By the time it reaches the final goodbye, Okereke says the act of writing so plainly about it had a kind of release. “When I finished singing the words about him, I did feel a sense of relief,” he said. “I felt like, ‘OK, you can put this all somewhere now, and it doesn’t have to eat you up any more’. It is a document, for me, and for other people. Love isn’t just good times, it’s bad times, too. And you look at it and document it, don’t you? You try to understand it, in that way.”
Bloc Party ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’ artwork. CREDIT: Press
Okereke had already signaled the album’s direction last spring, telling NME that the group were working on “disco heartbreak” and that the record was, at its core, “about heartbreak”. He also spoke at the time about collaborating with Horn, calling him someone who has made “some of my favourite records of all time” and noting that after more than 50 years in the studio, he seemed to know “all the tricks” and “everyone as well”.
In March, Bloc Party previewed the material live at BBC 6 Music Festival, where they debuted three songs from the album. Alongside ‘Coming On Strong’, they played ‘Love Bombs’, described as a synth-led anthem about overbearing romantic love, and ‘Pigwig’, which comes across as a catchy, classic indie-rock song. The rollout now points toward a busy stretch for the band: later this year, they join Muse on their North American tour before heading into a UK and EU co-headline run with Interpol in the autumn.
The tracklist for Anatomy Of A Brief Romance is:
1. ‘22.01.22’
2. ‘Coming On Strong’
3. ‘Love Bombs’
4. ‘Pigwig’
5. ‘Lagoon Blue’
6. ‘Muscleworks’
7. ‘Clark Kent’
8. ‘Worst Birthday Ever’
9. ‘Not Your Problem’
10. ‘Now We Can’t Be Friends’
11. ‘Rotherhithe’
12. ‘Stories’
13. ‘Moving On’
14. ‘Eulogy’
