So here we are. The opening salvo from A Weekend In The City, and we find Bloc Party sporting a natty new load of intellectual dread and a healthy new musical makeover.
Alright, it's not quite the about turn that saw Radiohead give birth to Kid A, but with a beat squelching and spluttering like it's hoping to emigrate to a better life in a Neptunes song, a barely perceivable electronic humming drifting along in the background like an abomination of monks at a Samsung factory, and a disembodied and frustrated Kele floating around the top of the whole thing like a poltergeist stuck in the rush-hour gridlock, it's definitely a departure from anything on Silent Alarm.
It's a brave song. And one that gets better the more time you spent in it's company. Not obvious, but fine nonetheless. The Prayer isn't going to answer all of the questions that persist regarding the new album, but it's a bloody good opening riposte.
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