Bloc Party

“The Prayer”
from the album A Weekend in the City
2007
iTunes

MP3 – “The Prayer”

Crunk. Crunk? Crunk! Crunk is the word that Kele Okereke, lead singer of Bloc Party, uses to describe new single “The Prayer.“ It’s still a month until the new album comes out, but this “crunk” song is a great taster of what’s to come on Weekend in the City.

But about the song… Hypnotic humming, faced paced drums, psychotic verses — this is what many people wanted Bloc Party to produce for a next single. “The Prayer” is a great work from the band. It’s a single that’s so well produced that after each listen you have to turn the volume up that little bit more. Okereke sings “Lord give me grace/ And dancing feet/ And the power to impress.” It’s a self indulgent song, but one that is so well-written it works on many different levels.

But there is a negative: the chorus. It’s not instantly memorable, and it took a few listens to be able to remember the chorus without having to listen to the song again, and the lyrics are a bit cheesy, too. The verses are some of the best that the band has ever written, but there’s a certain amount of quality lacking in the chorus, and it lets the song down.

Nevertheless, “The Prayer” is a song that will do well in the charts and it’s a song that shows that Bloc Party still have what it takes to be remembered as one of the best U.K. bands this decade.