Pitchfork

With Coachella's 48-hour festivities now behind them, Bloc Party are ready to buckle down and get back to work. Billboard.com reports that the four-piece are set to occupy an Irish studio, where they will record the follow up to their 2005 debut Silent Alarm. The as-of-yet untitled effort is expected late this year on Vice/Atlantic.

Over the course of the past few weeks, the band has been working in London with producer Jacknife Lee. Frontman Kele Okereke told Billboard.com, "One thing that we've learnt from touring over the last two years is that there are other ways to be powerful whilst making music, rather than being completely full on, 100 miles per hour. This next record is hopefully going to be a lot more intricate and layered. We learnt so much about the power of arrangements. I know it sounds cheesy, but I guess it is going to be a more grown up Bloc Party."

Most notable among the new tracks are "Waiting for the 718", on which Okereke observes his friends getting lost in the daily grind, and "Hunting for Witches", inspired by last year's London public transportation bombings.

Of the latter title, Okereke told Billboard, "The 30 bus in Hackney, which is just around the corner from where I live, was blown up. [That song was] written when I was just observing the reactions of the mainstream press in [the United Kingdom] and I was just amazed at how easy it'd been to whip them up into a fury. I guess the point about the song for me is post-September 11th, the media has really traded on fear and the use of fear in controlling people."

Other tunes in the running for the album include "Kreuzberg", "Cruel, "Merge on the Freeway", and "Machines". Add all those to the previously reported "Into The Blue", "Kids", and "The Present", and you've almost got a full album.

Okereke also told Billboard that David Bowie has had a huge influence on the record's sound as well, stating, "[Bowie's] had a career where you can actually trace influences and styles. He's just a real sort of artist in the way a lot of rock musicians now aren't given the scope to develop."

Before putting on the Ziggy costumes, however, Bloc Party have a few summer festival obligations in North America and England. Coming to a street near you:

06-24 Toronto, Ontario - Olympic Island
06-25 Chicago, IL - Union Park (Intonation Festival)
08-19 Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park (V Festival)
08-20 Staffordshire, England - Weston Park (V Festival)