Instead, this is the band’s first effort at crafting a cohesive, start-to-finish album.

Unlike their two previous efforts, not every cut on Tonight sounds tailor-made for the radio or the dance floor.

To this point, Franz Ferdinand has been known primarily as a singles band, and they’ve arguably been the best singles band of the past decade. The hooks are massive, the production is spot-on (the handclaps on “No You Girls” only heighten its propulsive rhythm), and the swagger sells it all. The muffled keyboard riffs that run through “Twilight Omens” and the spare “Dream Again” are far more effective, while the fuzzy distortion on lead single “Ulysses” draws from the excellent Daft Punk remix of “Take Me Out.” The album’s other obvious choices for singles, “No You Girls” and “What She Came For,” take fewer risks but are no less gratifying than Franz Ferdinand’s singles routinely are.

The extended coda of the nearly eight-minute “Lucid Dreams” doesn’t entirely work it suggests that the band and producer Dan Carey don’t necessarily have the best instincts when it comes to acting on their experimental impulses. If the electric bass does most of the heavy lifting on the record, it’s the synthesizers and other distorted electronic elements that give the album its texture. Fortunately, the band’s rhythm section, which has always been what elevates them above stylistically similar acts like Bloc Party and Interpol, is capable of carrying tracks like “Turn It On” and “Live Alone.” It’s the obvious disco influence here-the bassline on “Can’t Stop Feeling” is cribbed from Larry Levan, while “Bit Hard” favorably recalls a cover of Blondie’s “Call Me” that the band recorded for a charity project-that keeps most of the songs from succumbing to their sluggish pace, pushing the band’s sonic palette in new directions. While not all of those risks pay off, what works about Tonight speaks to the band’s greater maturity and vision.īilled as more of a straight-up dance record than their previous efforts, Tonight generally sticks to the four-four stomp that has been the band’s stock-and-trade, but they’ve deliberately slowed their tempo here. He adds: “The real motivation was to make something new, not ‘Franz featuring Russell Mael,’ or ‘Sparks with Franz Ferdinand backing them.If there’s a twinge of what-might’ve-been disappointment surrounding Tonight: Franz Ferdinand because of the Scottish quartet’s aborted recording sessions with Girls Aloud producers Xenomania, that feeling is ultimately overshadowed by the ways in which the album showcases the archdukes’ willingness to take risks with their trademark formula. “We had the songs first, rehearsed them and then recorded it all together, in a room. “We approached it the way bands do with their first record,” says Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos, via the NME. The two bands first discussed a collaboration after Franz’s debut record, but waited a decade to act on their impulses. Other song titles on the new LP include “Johnny Delusional,” “The Man Without A Tan,” and “Collaborations Don’t Work.” It works.įFS’ debut album drops June 8 via Franz’ home of Domino Records. “Piss Off” is a weird tug-of-war between each band’s familiar sounds. Under the FFS moniker, the Scottish modern indie band released their first collaboration track with ’70s theatrical rock veterans Sparks today, and it’s pretty much exactly what you assumed it would sound like when you first heard the supergroup news last month. A decade ago, Franz Ferdinand wanted to “Take You Out.” Now they want you to “Piss Off.”

Franz ferdinand take me out album cover