Bloc Party share pensive new single and add dates to record store tour due to demand
Bloc Party have shared new single ‘Lagoon Blue’, as well adding yet more dates to their upcoming record store tour due to demand.
The new track, a reimagined version of the band’s 2023 track ‘Blue’, marks the latest preview of the London band’s seventh studio album, ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’, which is released on September 11 via Contagious Music. It follows the tracks ‘Coming On Strong’, ‘Love Bombs’, ‘Now We Can’t Be Friends’ and ‘Pigwig‘.
‘Lagoon Blue’ was the first song penned for the upcoming record, created at a time when frontman Kele Okereke was said to be “blissfully in the first throes of a new love” that ultimately dissolved.
“The song is about feeling like love had come back into my life, when I didn’t think that was going to be possible,” Okereke said in a press release. “So it was a really joyous song for me. But I felt I couldn’t sing it every night, knowing what I know now.
“The only way to make it work was to tell the whole story of our relationship, where ‘Lagoon Blue’ is only a beat of it, not the whole story.”
The band have also added yet more dates to their UK record store tour, which kicks off tomorrow night (September 9), with several extra performances due to phenomenal demand.
You can find the full list of shows below, and find ticket details here. Elsewhere on their live schedules, they’ll embark on a UK and European co-headline tour with Interpol later this year, and recently opened for Muse at select gigs in North America.
The full list of tour dates is:
SEPTEMBER
9 – Wax and Beans @ The Mets, Bury (show 1) – SOLD OUT
9 – Wax and Beans @ The Mets, Bury (show 2)
10 – Banquet @ Circuit, Kingston – SOLD OUT
11 – Jacaranda Baltic, Liverpool (show 1)
11 – Jacaranda Baltic, Liverpool (show 2) – SOLD OUT
13 – Rough Trade @ Palais, Nottingham
14 – Rough Trade, Bristol (show 1) – SOLD OUT
14 – Rough Trade, Bristol (show 2) – SOLD OUT
15 – Rough Trade East, London (show 1) – SOLD OUT
15 – Rough Trade East, London (show 2) – SOLD OUT
15 – Rough Trade East, London (show 3) – SOLD OUT
17 – Crash @ Stylus, Leeds University
Speaking to NME last spring, Okereke teased what fans could expect from the upcoming ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’, which was produced by the legendary Trevor Horn (Grace Jones, Pet Shop Boys, Frankie Goes To Hollywood).
“The term that we were bandying around at the start was ‘disco heartbreak’,” he told us at the time. “That was the umbrella, but it’s kind of morphed into something else. We’re only six songs in, so it could go completely left. We’ll see.”
The frontman said: “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.”
As for his experience working with Horn, Okereke explained: “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.”
Comprising 14 songs, the LP is structured like a memoir by Okereke and features some of his most personal songs yet. ‘Anatomy Of A Brief Romance’ follows on from 2022’s ‘Alpha Games’.
Last year, Bloc Party accepted the Outstanding Song Collection Award at the Ivor Novellos, where the likes of U2, Brandon Flowers, Robbie Williams, Lola Young and Self Esteem were also honoured.
They then played the first-ever ‘icons’ slot at Reading & Leeds that summer, treating the audience to some indie classics and feel-good banter.
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