A Weekend in the City is the second studio album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios in Westmeath, Ireland, in mid-2006 and was produced by Jacknife Lee. The subject matter of frontman and chief lyricist Kele Okereke’s lyrics covers issues such as drug use, sexuality, and the media’s use of moral panic. The album was released on 24 January 2007 in Japan and in the first week of February in the rest of the world, with Wichita Recordings as the primary label. It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and on the Irish Albums chart.
About A Weekend in the City in brief
A Weekend in the City is the second studio album by British indie rock band Bloc Party. It was recorded at Grouse Lodge Studios in Westmeath, Ireland, in mid-2006 and was produced by Jacknife Lee. The album was released on 24 January 2007 in Japan and in the first week of February in the rest of the world, with Wichita Recordings as the primary label. It peaked at number two on the UK Albums Chart and on the Irish Albums chart. In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 12. The subject matter of frontman and chief lyricist Kele Okereke’s lyrics covers issues such as drug use, sexuality, and the media’s use of moral panic. The band members were largely disillusioned with the evolution of contemporary guitar music and aimed to re-create the highly stylised production values of R&B and hip-hop records while relying on an atmosphere of neo-classical music. A string sextet was hired to perform on some of the tracks. Computer programs were extensively used to enrich and amend recorded takes, while a roof was sometimes used over drummer Matt Tong’s drum kit to isolate any sonic interference. In November 2007, the album was re-released globally—with the final single, “Flux”, as a bonus track—to coincide with Bloc party’s extensive touring schedule. The Guardian included it in its list of the “1000 Albums To Hear Before You Die”. At the time, Moakes told Rolling Stone that the album would hopefully include electronic, processed beats and a sound in the vein of alternative rock band Radiohead and indie rock ensemble TV on the Radio.
They selected Lee based on the rapport that developed between the two parties while recording the demo song “I Still Remember”, which later appeared in A Weekend in The City. The group wanted to expand their sonic palette without losing the musical “jerkiness” of Silent Alarm. The band recorded around 30 soundchecks for the initial lyrics using a MiniDisc player before they entered the studio recording process in April 2006. They selected a producer who could help them craft an accomplished album, although as much as anything it’s about finding someone who you’d want to spend six weeks in an enclosed space with. In mid- 2006, the band members travelled to Lee’s Grouse lodge Studios in Ireland to record A Weekend In The City, which was recorded in a large room with a large area of natural ambience according to sound engineer Tom McFall. The final single from the album, “The Prayer”, was released as a single in November 2007 and is available as a download on iTunes. It is the only single to be released as part of the re-release, along with the bonus track, “Flux’s” single ‘Flux,’ which is a live version of “The Prayer’. The single was released to coincide with the band’s extensive tour schedule.
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This page is based on the article A Weekend in the City published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
