Michael Endelman of "Entertainment Weekly" was less receptive and stated, "Too often, the music on "A Weekend in the City" is less memorable than the ambitious subject matter." Robert Christgau, reviewing for "Rolling Stone", suggested that the album fails because it lacks "killer choruses", while Sia Michel of "The New York Times" wrote that the multitracked vocals and baroque effects do not have "the wiry catchiness" of Bloc Party's previous work. Mike Schiller of PopMatters commented that the sonic direction the band had moved to was unsuited to the members' musical strengths, while Dorian Lynskey of "The Guardian" stated "grand statements are not earnest frontman Kele Okereke's forte...there's barely a song that isn't kneecapped by one of Okereke's lyrical clangers".