Bloc Party – “Traps”

Bloc Party haven’t released an LP since Hymns way back at the beginning of 2016, but they’re set to change that in 2022. The band will release their sixth album Alpha Games in April. It’s produced by Nick Launay and Adam Greenspan, a duo who’ve worked together on projects by Nick Cave, Arcade Fire, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, IDLES, and more. Alpha Games is billed as a return to the high-energy post-punk sound of early releases like Silent Alarm, and lead single “Traps” certainly bears that out.

Kele Okereke shared a statement about the song: “From the moment we wrote ‘Traps,’ we knew it had to be the first thing people heard from this album; playing it in soundchecks on our last tour before it was finished and hearing how it sounded in those big rooms and outdoors.” Speaking as a fan of early Bloc Party who hasn’t been nearly as enthusiastic about their later work, “Traps” does sound like it could bring down the house. Check it out below.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Day Drinker”
02 “Traps”
03 “You Should Know the Truth”
04 “Callum Is a Snake”
05 “Rough Justice”
06 “The Girls Are Fighting”
07 “Of Things Yet to Come”
08 “Sex Magik”
09 “By Any Means Necessary”
10 “In Situ”
11 “If We Get Caught”
12 “The Peace Offering”

Alpha Games is out 4/29 on Infectious/BMG. Pre-order or pre-save it here.