Four is the fourth studio album by British rock band Bloc Party. It was recorded in late 2011 and early 2012 at Stratosphere Sound, New York City, with producer Alex Newport. Newport also produced Wreckonomics—the EP of bassist Gordon Moakes' side project, Young Legionnaire. It was released on 20 August 2012 on independent label Frenchkiss Records,^[6] and was made available to stream the week preceding its release. The album peaked at number 3 in the UK Albums Chart, and at number 36 on the Billboard 200 chart in the United States.^[7][8] It is the last album featuring the original line-up with Gordon Moakes and Matt Tong.

The band recorded the album using a more guitar-oriented sound, reminiscent of their debut album, Silent Alarm.

Following the release of electronic music-inspired third album Intimacy in 2008 and single "One More Chance" the following year, Bloc Party went on an indefinite hiatus as their contract with Wichita came to an end.^[9] During the break, members of the band continued with various side projects; lead guitarist Russell Lissack returned to Pin Me Down and joined Ash for a number of live dates,^[10][11] multi-instrumentalist Gordon Moakes formed Young Legionnaire,^[12] and frontman Kele Okereke released debut solo album The Boxer.^[13] During this period, rumours spread about the future of the band; in interviews with NME, Okereke said he feared being "fired", and Lissack later implied the band were seeking a new vocalist.^[14][15] Rumours of a reunion were fuelled by a Christmas photograph circulated on Twitter showing all four members of the band together, and four months later Lissack confirmed the group's intention to record a new album.^[16]

Four was recorded between winter 2011 and spring 2012 at Stratosphere Sound in New York City.^[17] The idea to record in New York with producer Alex Newport came about after Okereke and drummer Matt Tong relocated to Manhattan. Initially the band rehearsed material then recorded it soon after. Okereke told BBC 1 presenter Zane Lowe that recording of the rehearsed material added to the album's live sound and that the album itself was mainly recorded live with very few takes.

Although many of the songs were written in studio in rehearsal sessions, some songs, such as the album's opener "So He Begins to Lie", were written prior to recording, after an idea from guitarist Russell Lissack. Other songs, such as the lead single "Octopus" came about from Lissack's experimentation with effects pedals and loops. Okereke, who wrote all of the album's lyrics, based songs on a wide range of issues. "Team A" is said to be based on the New York drug scene, and "V.A.L.I.S." is based on the 1981 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. Other songs, such as "So He Begins to Lie", were based on reality television.^[17]

The album was officially announced in a blog post Archived 15 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine by Okereke. In the post Okereke revealed the album title and cover art and stated that the album was the best thing that the band had ever done, making note of the fact that they wanted to challenge themselves by not "relying on protools or the invisible grid that seems to be mapping out all of popular music these days." The goal of the album was to create a sound that resembled four people playing in a room, a return to the formula of their debut album Silent Alarm.^[18]

The album's cover art was designed by bassist Gordon Moakes. The four circles is said to represent a different member of the band. The colour red represents Okereke, blue represents Moakes, yellow Lissack and green Tong.

The people involved in the making of Four are the following:^[17]

Bloc Party

• Kele Okereke – lead vocals, rhythm guitar (except track 3)
• Russell Lissack – lead guitar
• Gordon Moakes – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Matt Tong – drums, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Marika Hughes – cello
• Forest Christenson – violin
• Karen Piper – additional vocals

Technical personnel

• Alex Newport – producer, mixing, recording
• Atsuo Matsumoto – recording assistant, additional engineering
• Alex Prieto – mixing assistant
• Ted Jensen – mastering
• Yuki Shingai – photography
• Bloc Party – design