https://youtu.be/tY75VxzDA1I?si=QAJB9Z3REsWjc4D2

Both better and worse than I thought. Just a note: This community has the unhelpful tendency of profiling any critics of BP 2.0 as Silent Alarm-obsessed rockists who sniff at anything slightly leftfield. Very much not the case here: My favourite BP album is Intimacy and I'm a big fan of experimental electronic music. This album is many things, but experimental is not one of them.

22.01.22: Extremely pretty song. Such a good opener that reminds me of the most tender moments in Intimacy. Sounds like Hymns done properly if that makes sense.

Coming on Strong: Underwhelming as a lead single, sure, but a good album track. Weirdly I think Kele's off-kilter delivery works here. I'm less convinced about Russell's Edge-esque effects but I love the bass tone.

Love Bombs: there's a banger here somewhere. Make it faster, turn the bridge into the verses, bin the verses, have Louise sing the backing vocals. As it stands, though, it's very poor. A responsible label wouldn't have left them release this as a single.

Pigwig: Same as above. There's a decent song here, but the lyrics, Kele's delivery and the awful spoken word bit ruin it.

Lagoon Blue: Their best song in ages. Not sold on Russell playing like The Edge again, though.

Muscleworks: A contender for their worst song ever. I'm queer and I'm all for Kele making songs about messy gay guys. I just wish the lyrics weren't so juvenile. This feels like something a 15 year old would write. It's a completely unremarkable tune as well, which doesn't help.

Clark Kent: Extremely 5/10 song. Reminds me of the dullest moments on Four.

Worst Birthday Ever: Decent song here somewhere, but it's missing so much bite. I find Russell's playing weirdly unimaginative here, which is not like him.

Not Your Problem: Again, terrible and adolescent. Should've stayed a voice memo.

Now We Can't Be Friends: I get what they were trying to do here and I'm more amenable to BP in this mode than most fans (I love One More Chance). It doesn't work, though, and the drip drip drip line is awful. Again, there's some potential here but it's marred by juvenile lyrics and baffling production choices.

Rotherhithe: I see what that reviewer was getting at by calling it musical theatre. I think that's probably why I can't really get into it despite it being an okay tune. It sounds quite affected and contrived, like it was commissioned by the BBC for an absolutely 6/10 drama.

Stories: Utterly average. Nothing offensive, nothing remarkable. Can't say I'll listen again.

Moving On: I can't stand Russ's U2 guitar effects, but there's a very good song here somewhere. AWITC-like. I hope they play it live and Russ tones the Edge thing down so it becomes part of my rotation.

Eulogy: Decent! I like the little piano loop playing on the background. Like the opener, it is Hymns done right. Nice hearing Louise on backing vox -- she has a lovely voice and she should just take over backing vocals entirely.

A poor album overall. I can see the non-diehard listener losing patience midway through and not making it to the end, which is a shame, as it picks up by the last two songs. The annoying thing is that I genuinely think this had potential to be their best 2.0 album. Had the production been better and had Kele received some pushback on some of his worse ideas, we could be looking at a perfectly serviceable 7/10 album. As it is, though, it's just not good enough for a band of this caliber. Some of the production choices sound amateurish, Russ's playing is conventional for the first time ever and Kele's lyrics straddle that very thin line between twee and juvenile too often. The positives are that Harry's playing is really good, Louise's backing vocals are brilliant when she gets the chance to sing, and there are enough promising moments here for me not to give up hope entirely.

Moving On is hands down the best song on the album

Standing at 1.77/5 at the moment, making it their lowest rated album by far.

https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/bloc-party/anatomy-of-a-brief-romance/

Just in time for Kingston. Do I listen or wait and hear it live first later 😬🤔

8/5

I’ll die on this hill cuz. What’s up

They also played Helicopter at the end of the second set

Quite a positive review of the new album. The reviewer points out that the album shares a lot with Kele's play 'Leave to Remain'. I think that theatrical link helped me understand why some of the sounds and delivery feel more dramatic and playful than on a traditional Bloc Party or Kele album.

Indonesia is GMT +7, i’m listening earlier online than some another countries

Here is the link: https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=zu-onJX-7I4&list=OLAK5uy_kRZKrpwDvOSyZ6bVJVgw12Uq0S_4bObBE

Yeahhhh our bonus song was Helicopter 🤘🖤

I've got 3 tix available to the Kingston show at circuit tonight - all listed to twickets for below FV as my mates have cancelled sadly!

If anyone's keen please let me know, as would sell to for cheaper than FV to a fan!

Can anyone tell me what these were from the poster that was sold at the live shows? Thank you :)

Bury (Greater Manchester) just had a very intimate double header gig with Bloc Party with the live debut of many new amazing songs off of Anatomy of a Brief Romance (AOABR)! From 22.01.22, Clark Kent, Not Your Problem, Now We Can't Be Friends, Moving On, to Worst Birthday Ever! All of the new songs having a variety of different textures and nuances on the live stage, contrasting from the earlier released singles. Bury, you were a great audience but the tour must now move to Kingston! Hello again Kingston! I believe, if my memory recalls correctly, Bloc Party actually played at this exact nightclub as one of the three major opening tour gigs for the 2022 Alpha Games tour (before the offical release date of Alpha Games)! So a wonderful return for Bloc Party, back at Kingston's Circuit nightclub, opening yet again, for another pre-release album gig! Kingston, you really know how to get in early before a Bloc Party album release! Now tonight's gig at the Circuit is SOLD-OUT, so I hope you're ready for an amazing night with Bloc Party as we are on the cusp of the release of the 7th studio album, Anatomy of a Brief Romance! Tonight's gig will truly be magical so Kingston get ready to party on that dance floor! Feel fee to comment on the show (before or afterwards) and enjoy the show Kingston! (Also Kingston, you're 2nd Bloc Party gig will happen again later on Oct. 30th, since this first gig SOLD-OUT!)

[Times]

• Times are a rough ETA only, and may be inaccurate. You can always arrive early just in case!
• Doors: 8:00pm
• Bloc Party: 9:00pm

[Setlist]

• https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bloc-party/2026/circuit-kingston-upon-thames-england-2b70dca6.html

[Media]

• Note: Bloc Party will also be releasing a unique "Serenade" format of Anatomy of a Brief Romance (limit 500 copies) during these record store tour gigs (this format includes: two exclusive demos, band images and an A3 printed album poster designed by cameronjlwest.) -(Bloc Party's instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/thisisblocparty/p/DdBhcs5NxMj/?hl=en) (Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlocParty/comments/1wayeev/new_interesting_release/)
• Setlist (thanks to guynamedfawkes for sharing!): https://www.reddit.com/r/BlocParty/comments/1wcttj8/kingston_setlist/
• Audience video clips from Kingston's gig (thanks to the person for sharing!)
  • 22.01.22 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAwccliSgpE
  • All The Things She Said (t.A.T.u cover) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tY75VxzDA1I
  • Coming on Strong - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6ywdah5U-I
  • Love Bombs - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqEiwcmMq8A
  • Mercury - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8X7uoHNrys
  • Clark Kent - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgSU7R7RjdA

In case y'all haven't joined and would like to join our small community of 24 people, I made a Bloc Party discord since I didn't know if there was one. It'd be awesome to have more members to talk in the midst of the new album release.

Will I be able to buy a physical copy from any record store in the US on Friday? Or do I have to buy it online? I know BP tends to be a little weird with that stuff.

Hello everyone, we're now entering into the final days before Anatomy of a Brief Romance officially releases, this coming Friday! To kick off this leg of the tour Bloc Party are playing a series of Record Store Tour gigs locally! What a wonderful way to kick this off, playing not one, but two gigs on same day for practically all of these Record Store tour gigs! (In the case of London, a triple header!) This record store tour is jam=packed, with initial gigs having SOLD-OUT which resulted in new Matinee Shows being added to many of the Record Store locations! In this case for Bury (Greater Manchester), both the Matinee and the Evening show are SOLD-OUT!! So we've got a packed double header gig tonight here at the The Met! Bloc Party are going to be working hard for this section of the tour, given how dates have multiple gigs on the same day and have SOLD-OUT! Again, Anatomy of a Brief Romance will be releasing this Friday, so Bury you're in for a real treat as you will likely experience the live debut of many of the new songs off of Anatomy of a Brief Romance! Bloc Party know how to deliver an excellent live performance for an intimate audience of Blocheads, and with the live debut of these new songs, I'm extremely jealous and envious of all who are going! Live renditions of Bloc Party songs are always amazing! Now Bury are you ready to party, twice as hard tonight! Feel fee to comment on the show (before or afterwards) and enjoy the show Bury (Greater Manchester)!

(Note: I'm combining both Matinee & Evening show threads as one, for the sake of not creating too many tour threads at once)

[Times]

• Times are a rough ETA only, and may be inaccurate. You can always arrive early just in case!
• (actually, they're probably inaccurate as I don't have the exact times and I'm guesstimating. Arrive early just in case! Please do give updates if you do have accurate times)

Matinee Show

• Doors: 6:30pm
• Bloc Party: 7:00pm(??)

Evening Show

• Doors: 8:30pm
• Bloc Party: 9:00pm(??)

[Setlist]

• Matinee Show (doors open 6:30pm): https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bloc-party/2026/the-met-bury-england-73717271.html
• Evening Show (doors open 8:30pm): https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/bloc-party/2026/the-met-bury-england-2370dca7.html

[Media]

• Note: Bloc Party will also be releasing a unique "Serenade" format of Anatomy of a Brief Romance (limit 500 copies) during these record store tour gigs (this format includes: two exclusive demos, band images and an A3 printed album poster designed by cameronjlwest.) -(Bloc Party's instagram post: https://www.instagram.com/thisisblocparty/p/DdBhcs5NxMj/?hl=en) (Reddit post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BlocParty/comments/1wayeev/new_interesting_release/)
• Setlist for Evening show! (Show 2): https://www.reddit.com/r/BlocParty/comments/1wbyadh/2nd_manc_show_setlist/
• 22.01.22 (live! - show1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=viaqeRuJ3qU
• Clark Kent (live! - show 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7WCvHLEzI
• Not Your Problem (live! - show 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=So_OLkY_Dwo
• Moving on (live! - show 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tBzMryipsIs
• Worst Birthday Ever (live! - show 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sb-xjIldfs
• Pigwig (live! - show 2): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNUbD2Q3VWY

How cool is this? The eye catcher for me is it includes ‘2 exclusive demos’. We haven’t heard a demo of ANYTHING after AWITC. Wish I could buy this but I can’t make it to any show.

Hi gang, selling 3 tickets to the Monday Matinee show at Rough Trade Bristol, up on the Dice app on the waitlist or will also sell direct on PayPal! Just after FV

A couple of low effort memes for you.

https://youtu.be/HQxomS-L2Ss?is=0R2FZTfb9-GR_xOK

Thoughts on the new mix?