The album was recorded between March and August 2015 at Lynchmob Studios in London, following a hiatus during which Matt Tong and Gordon Moakes departed the band.

[7] Bloc Party unveiled their new line-up at two intimate gigs in the Los Angeles area during August 2015, and following these performances, subheadlined FYF Fest.

The shows marked the live debut for two new band members: bassist Justin Harris of Portland indie rock outfit Menomena, who had previously opened several Bloc Party US tour dates in April 2009;[9][10] and otherwise-unknown drummer Louise Bartle.

[22] According to critic Mark Beaumont, Lissack's guitar work is often reminiscent of shoegaze,[23] a new style for him which is typified by significant use of distortion, feedback and the blurring of parts into indistinguishable "walls of sound".

Okereke visited his parents' house prior to recording and found various hymns and religious memorabilia from his youth and used these to make a spiritual, meditative album.

[26] In a positive review, NME stated that "Hymns finds a fully-in-control Okereke, still tangled in the electronics of his solo albums fusing with Russell Lissack’s spectral shoegaze guitars to steer one of the century’s most pioneering underground bands into more mature and absorbing, if murkier, waters.

Out goes the angst; in come song titles such as 'Only He Can Heal Me' and an evangelical joyousness on the likes of 'The Good News' (although frontman Kele Okereke has denied the new material is explicitly religious).

A far cry from the band that crafted one of this generation's finest debut records in Silent Alarm, they're consistently – and often unfavourably – associated with the period of time when they sat at the forefront of the UK indie scene.

Lead track 'The Love Within' opens the record and remains a bizarre mess; Kele Okereke's distinct vocal parting for a mostly one-note synth line that causes a genuine flinch.

All is perhaps not lost: 'Fortress' is a somewhat pretty, minimal electro ballad while 'Different Drugs' speaks for the entire record; flirting with a series of ideas before simply fading out of sight and mind.

"[31] All tracks are written by Kele Okereke and Russell Lissack, except where notedDrummer Louise Bartle had not yet joined the band when the album was recorded although she did provide unlisted vocals.