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Bloc Party release their highly anticipated new album Four on August 20th via Frenchkiss Records.
Produced by Alex Newport (Death Cab For Cutie, The Mars Volta, At The Drive-In), the album was recorded and mixed in New York city and will mark the band’s first full-length since 2008’s acclaimed Intimacy.
Along with this exciting news, the band have announced a string of European, US and festival appearances following a two-year absence from the stage, which will give fans the first opportunity to hear new material from their forthcoming album as well as the indie classics from the band’s 10-year history.
The UK dates sold out instantly and the band added a third date at New York’s Terminal 5 and Splendour In The Grass festival where the band play a headline slot which sold out within 45 minutes.
Bloc Party have released three full-length albums including the Mercury nominated debut Silent Alarm, toured extensively and headlined festivals throughout the UK, Europe and beyond and helped shape the sound of modern British guitar music.
Kele said: “We have just finished mixing our new record. I am very proud of it. It is the best thing that we have ever done and finishing this record has taken us on quite a journey.”
On the gap between albums, he said: “There have been babies, breakdowns, tantrums and hospitalisations but it’s finally here. we started making this record in NY in the Winter of 2011. We didn’t want to let the world know so we told a lie that got out of hand but it made us laugh in the process, which brought us closer together.”
“It turns out that everyone had been feeling the same way so we arranged to decamp to NY and start writing our fourth record and in that time it became clear to us that the only reason to be in this band was to make the sort of music that only the four of us could make.”
“In the past we have tried to hide the passion with which we perform, tried to obscure it, manipulate it so it didn’t resemble us anymore. we have learnt a lot from those years but we feel with this record we have to move forward, we have to challenge ourselves by not relying on protools or the invisible grid that seems to be mapping out all of popular music these days. we have to push ourselves to the limit of our abilities or else there is no point in carrying on.”
On how Bloc Party’s tracks have been received, he said: “In the past there has been so much written about what our records have meant, so much context and back story but i am adamant that this time these songs will stand on their own. This record is the sound of four people in a room, loving what they do and doing it to the best of their ability. it is the sound that only the four of us could make and i am prouder of it than any record we have ever made.”
Bloc Party LIVE this Summer and beyond:
June
19 – Garage – Glasgow
20 – The Ritz – Manchester
21 – Koko – London
24 – Ebisu Garden Hall – Tokyo, Japan
29 – Peace and Love – Sweden
July
05 – Super Bock Super Rock – Sesimbra, Portugal
06 – Open’er Festival – Gdynia, Poland
08 – Ruisrock Festival – Turku, Finland
12 – BBK Live – Bilbao, Spain
13 – Melt Festival – Ferropolis, Germany
20– Festival Les Vieilles Charrues, France
21 – Paleo Fest, Switzerland
28 – Splendour In The Grass, Australia
30 – The Republik – Honolulu, HI USA
August
03 – Hard Festival – Los Angels, CA USA
04 – Lollapalooza – Atlanta, GA USA
05 – Osheaga Festival – Montreal, CA
07 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
08 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
09 – Terminal 5 – New York, NY USA
11 – The Pool @ The Cosmopolitan – Las Vegas, NV USA
12 – Outside Lands – San Francisco, USA
16 – Pukkelpop Festival – Hasselt, Belgium
17 – Lowlands – Biddinghuizen, Netherlands
18 – Frequency – St Polten, Austria
24 – Rock en Seine – France
25 – Open Air Festival – Zurich, Switzerland
September
04 – Mallorca Rocks – Mallorca, Spain
05 – Ibiza Rocks – Ibiza, Spain
November
03 – Le Stereolux – Nantes, France
04 – Le Transbordeur – Lyon, France
05 – Le Rocher de Palmer – Bordeaux, France
07 – Le Bikini – Toulouse, France
08 – Alcatrax – Milan, Italy
11 – Docks – Hamburg, Germany
12 – Theatrehaus – Stuttgart, Germany
13 – Eventwerk – Dresden, Germany
14 – Tonhalle – Munich, Germany
18 – Vega – Copenhagen, Denmark
19 – Munich Brewery – Stockholm, Sweden
20 – Rockafeller – Oslo, Norway