Bloc Party announce ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’ with lead single ‘Coming On Strong’

Bloc Party have announced Anatomy Of A Brief Romance, their seventh album and, by the band’s account, one of their most personal. The record arrives on September 11 via cOnTAGIOUS LTD, through Virgin Music Group, and leads with the new single Coming On Strong.

The album runs to 14 tracks and is produced by Trevor Horn, whose credits include Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys and Frankie Goes To Hollywood. Bloc Party describe it as a chronological portrait of a love affair, moving from first glances through to heartbreak and the final farewell. It follows 2022’s Alpha Games.

Kele Okereke said the material is drawn directly from 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 he wrote it after separating from the father of his children after more than a decade, then unexpectedly meeting someone and falling in love again.

He added that the new relationship helped him through a difficult period. “Having this romance, this new thing emerge, it kept me sane, in a very dark time,” he said, later adding that he now feels “less prudish about sex and connection and intimacy” and has “no qualms talking about it, because that connection is important”.

Okereke also said: “I don’t think I’ve ever been that candid in the past,” noting that the album includes inside-jokes, “vicious barbs,” and heavy emotions. The band shared the first teaser from the record today, Tuesday May 12.

Coming On Strong, the second song on the tracklist, follows the rush of starting something new. Its guitars and drum pattern push the song forward, while the mood shifts as it goes on, hinting at the warning signs already creeping into the relationship.

“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,” Okereke 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 early part of the record stays close to that sense of falling hard, before the rest of the album turns toward the cracks, the fallout and the final goodbye. Okereke said writing so openly about it gave him some distance from the experience. “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

The album artwork has also been revealed, alongside the full tracklist:

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

Visit here to pre-order

Last spring, Okereke told NME the album would have a “disco heartbreak” feel. “It’s a record about heartbreak, really – that’s the only thing I can say about it at this stage. Hopefully it will be out next year, but we’ll see,” he said, while also discussing Trevor Horn. “He’s made some of my favourite records of all time, so it’s quite interesting to hear what he has to say. He’s been making records for most of his life, for over 50 years, so he seems to know all the tricks. He seems to know everyone as well and have a story about everyone.”

This March, Bloc Party debuted three new songs during their BBC 6 Music Festival set. They played Coming On Strong first, followed by Love Bombs, which they described as a synth-led anthem about overbearing romantic love, and then Pigwig, a track that leans into a more classic indie-rock shape.

Later this year, Bloc Party will support Muse on their North American tour before joining Interpol for a UK and EU co-headline run in the autumn.