The Love Within

Album: Hymns (2015)
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Songfacts®:

  • The lead single from Hymns, this is the first Bloc Party song to be released since new member, bassist Justin Harris, joined the band. It also features a session drummer as the group's new lady behind the drum set, Louise Bartle, wasn't recruited until after recording had finished.
  • Frontman Kele Okereke spoke to Rolling Stone about the song. "I guess it's about embracing feelings of joy and being connected," he said. "I think it's ultimately about trying to explain that feeling of rapture and joy that comes with being in love with the world or universe.

    It sounds quite hippie-ish when I say it like that, but I was reading from [William Blake's] collection Songs of Innocence. Something struck a chord with me, this idea of being connected to the earth and nature. The idea of sublime connectivity to the world that is around - that's the idea that stuck with me.

    How do I describe this transcendent feeling of joy that can come from surrendering yourself to a higher power? In the vaguest, most hippie-ish terms, that's really what this song is about. It's about being in love with the stars, the earth and nature."
  • Okereke said regarding the music clip: "In terms of the video, the only rule that I had was that I wanted something that reflected the states of joy. I think the video does that. It captures being lost in the moment and that's the one way I feel like the video is connected to the song."

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