I�ve heard it on the radio and seen the video a couple of times but didn�t want to comment on it till I�d actually been out and bought the single � no Bloc Party song has impressed me on first media exposure (or even via MP3 that much), they�ve all taken a proper listening, preferably with either headphones or serious volume. I think this is because Bloc Party don�t write songs as much as they make records � it�s all about the layers, the arrangement, the production, the filters and compression. Or it is for me at least.

Even so I was surprised that �Two More Years� was picked as the post-album single, the next step from last year�s next year�s Next Big Thing, because it resolutely fails to blow open what Bloc Party are. Maybe I�m just expecting too much, using the �Fools Gold� stylistic statement as the blueprint for any band�s follow-up to a hyped debut. Because aside from being a little less claustrophobic, �Two More years� could easily fit on Silent Alarm, and in truth doesn�t quite have that sudden emotional rush and pull of the likes of �Blue Light� or �This Modern Love�, that moment when suddenly they break into a shockingly beautiful gallop and you realise that there�s more to these photogenic Londoners than pointed postpunk proselytising.

That�s not to say that �Two More Years� isn�t moving, despite the muted chorus and unmemorable riff � there�s an intensifying synth-stab (or something) which works better than a riff could, and a moment when Kele tumbles a cross-lyric that should be in its own middle-eight across a later chorus. And of course the drums are too fast and the bass ululations unexpected, which amps the whole thing up way beyond the capabilities of the likes of Coldplay (hysterical melancholy always beating placid melancholy).

Which means that �So Here We Are� is still their best single, and that Bloc Party still sound like Bloc Party. This sounds like a let-down, doesn�t it, like I�m disappointed? I�m not � �Two More Years� is great, and a grower, and adds further to a catalogue of wonderful songs not present on Silent Alarm (�Tulips�, �The Marshals Are Dead�, �Little Thoughts�, �Always New Depths�). The best band in the world today? They certainly trounce the bloomin� Arctic Monkeys.