- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
-
Brave, individual and heartfelt, Intimacy offers treasure for fans old and new.
-
At times the music, like the lyrics, does illuminate the problem of a band taking itself too seriously. But Bloc Party has always favored drama, and there’s plenty of precedent for overblown sentiment when it comes to pop and broken hearts.
-
Intimacy is the English dance-punk outfit's most urgent-sounding effort yet, and frontman Kele Okereke and his bandmates probably couldn't bear the thought of waiting two or three months for it to be heard.
-
MojoBoldness has its own reward in the big grime beats, tension-filled horns and cold self-loathing of Mercury. [Nov 2008, p.104]
-
Alternative PressIntimacy is arguably Bloc Party's finest moment thus far, offering sweat and circuitry, savagery and submission, and a captivating energy that's severely lacking in many music scenes on the planet. [Dec 2008, p.144]
-
This vicious playfulness extends to the music as well, which trims off the magisterial excesses of "Weekend" while keeping the band's recent noisy electronica crush intact.
-
Despite their third album's title, however, they largely focus here on frantic postpunk aggression that's not necessarily bad, it just isn't what they do best.
-
Intimacy is not quite the radical statement its makers might think it is (I’m not sure what could be given the group’s evident ambitions), but it’s definitely a little bit of invigorating redemption at a time when doubts were beginning to cloud what was, initially, a flawless reputation.
-
Intimacy offers the most ideas that Bloc Party has ever put on display. Skip the first two tracks and you'll find more hits than misses.
-
Intimacy might not actually be all that intimate, but it is a thing of rough, recycled beauty. And if that isn’t worth getting beat up for, I don’t know what is.
-
Rushed it may have been, but here Bloc Party seem to accurately reflect post-relationship blues: confused, introspective and stung.
-
On Intimacy his ambition often outpaces the execution.
-
Replacing Bloc Party's distant cool with vivid honesty, Okereke makes Intimacy a confident new peak for his band.
-
Released on the web fully two months before it hits record stores, Bloc Party’s third album is as gleaming and hermetically sealed as one of Kubrick’s monoliths.
-
At times, Intimacy feels rushed and predictable, and at others, it's almost painfully ambitious.
-
Under The RadarThey are so solid and so confident that it seems inevitable that they will get many chances to slowly drift into more daring lands. But without more risk, they may be destined to make albums like Intimacy--accomplished and intriguing, but not life changing, not classic. [Year End 2008]
User score distribution:
-
Positive: 68 out of 78
-
Mixed: 8 out of 78
-
Negative: 2 out of 78
-
Nov 7, 2011
-
MattA.Oct 3, 2008
-
Feb 20, 2021