• "We wanted to make something that references some of the great contemporary electronic music that's being made without also losing the industrial energy of rock music."

• "With 'The Prayer' the idea was to do something interesting with the rhythm. It's got a real, almost crunk feel to it. I know that's probably gonna frighten people, but it's still us."

• About 'Song For Clay': "I wanted to try and make something that was a really melodramatic-sounding rock song, almost like a Bond theme. Something that sounded really kind of lush. When it kicks in I think it's going to knock some heads off!"

• About 'On': "It's about the lure of drugs, getting drunk and dancing all night. Whenever I hear it, I completely lose myself."

And finally, here's the rather poetic press blurb:

"'A Weekend in The City' is inspired by lead singer Kele Okereke's interest in what he calls 'the living noise of a metropolis'. On 'Weekend...', the band captures every detail, from the ebullient to the mundane, of daily life in a modern city, and the quiet desolation that suffuses everything from commuting to casual sex, from going out on a Friday night to the long ride home in the early hours of the morning. These are songs desperate to understand the meaning that pulses under the moments of our everyday: they are bursting with tension, paranoia, sadness, love and an intense need for reason as to how city life has become so displacing."

So what's the general consensus? Très exciting stuff, non? Or do you not like the sound of this new direction...?

Tickets for the 20-date UK tour go on sale from 'Marshals' at 9am tomorrow morning, and on general sale a day later. Brrrrap! (Sorry, just getting into the crunk mood!)

Labels: A_Weekend_In_The_City, Interviews, Press

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