British singer Kele Okereke has quashed speculation he's been dismissed from Bloc Party - the bandmembers have hit the studio together to work on a new album.
The group announced a hiatus in 2009 to allow Okereke time to work on his solo record, The Boxer, which was released the following year (10).
Okereke was rumoured to have left the line-up after guitarist Russell Lissack revealed in September (11) the group was making plans to audition for a new singer, but the star is now back with his bandmates.
Speaking on Britain's Radio 1 on Tuesday (03Jan12), Okereke says, "We're making a record. We're making our fourth record. We've recorded two songs and we've demo'd, I think, 17.
"As an overview I'm certainly very impressed. It's nice to feel like the music that we're making is the sound of us all in the room again, because we haven't really done that in a while.
"I think we all felt whatever energy was there in the beginning was still there and that's the reason to make a record again."