After a long period of remaining dormant while Kele Okereke went solo, Bloc Party came back into the public consciousness with a flurry of news reports at the tail end of last year about the future of the band. First it was news that Bloc Party had been practicing together again, then it was claimed that the band was working without singer Kele, and then the band claimed that there were no such tensions in the band and that they are all working together.

In an interview with Zane Lowe, Kele has confirmed that Bloc Party will make their official return in 2012 with their fourth album, which they are now beginning work on. In the interview Kele confirms that they have recorded 2 songs already and have demoed 17. He also claims that it “doesn’t sound like anyone else on the planet,” as well as using words like “lean” and “tough” to describe it.

Kele is of course in the band still, but unfortunately their iconic drummer Matt Tong has decided to leave.

Murmurs around the band early in their hiatus had suggested that this might be the case since Tong has been the only one not to pursue musical projects in the interim and has been saying that he’d need more time to focus on his family. The band confirmed this in a post on their Facebook on December 4th. The replacement drummer for now is Dave Abbruzzese, who is formerly of Pearl Jam, so by no means a nobody or a stranger to pressure.

Edit: As pointed out in the comments, this point about Matt Tong out and Dave Abbruzzese is probably a joke. Lazy reporting indeed. Well, we’re still warming up after the holiday break, so let us off on this one, eh?

Although there will still be some turbulence for the band to work through with each other and their fans, it is good to know that they are all focused on releasing something new this year, which is what everyone wants ultimately. More news as it breaks.