Bloc Party – ‘The Prayer’ (Wichita) Released 29/01/07

The monks are back! Absent from Bloc Party since ‘Banquet’ all those moons ago, they have returned more sinister than ever humming the intro to reticent foursome's return to duty. ‘The Prayer’ is three and a half minutes of frantic, taught insecurity wrapped up in production Timbaland would kill for. It sees Kele Okereke addressing his anxieties and lack of confidence in a confrontational manner (“Lord give me grace and dancing feet, And the power to impress”) before exploding into a stratosphere humping chorus (“Tonight make me unstoppable, I will charm, I will slice, I will dazzle them with my wit”). Just when you think it can’t get better a guitar solo that sounds like a UFO coming into land permeates your ears and sends the listener into another universe. The best song about shyness since The Smiths did ‘Ask’.