Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear Review
Franz Ferdinand continue to find new ways to enthrall on their sixth record.
Franz Ferdinand have always been guided by a desire to move forward. Singer Alex Kapranos admitted as much in an interview shot as part of the band’s ‘Tour De Franz’ documentary that followed their first world tour. “I think all bands should be like that - constantly developing. Otherwise there is no point in being alive.” It is the kind of existential philosophy you might expect from a band who opened their debut album proclaiming that chips and freedom are the only things in life worth living for.
The philosophy has treated the band well. Indeed, the one time they appeared to veer from it and play it safe, on 2013’s Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, resulted in the weakest album of their career. Almost acknowledging this themselves, they closed it with the line “You can laugh as if we are still together / but this really is the end.” encouraging speculation it was to be their swansong.
Instead, it was to be the last release to feature solely the four founding members of Franz Ferdinand. A collaboration album with cult band Sparks, released under the name FFS, followed. And in 2016 guitarist Nick McCarthy left the band and was replaced by Julian Corrie (synths / keys) and Dino Bardot (guitar). The change found the group reinvigorated as they released Always Ascending, an album that made good on their goal to imagine dance music played by humans and not machines.
The theme of their new album, and the first to feature Audrey Tait on drums after she replaced Paul Thomson in 2021, is, well, fear. Each song finds the narrator perturbed. Though it is an astute trick that Franz Ferdinand plays, to write songs layered with anxiety but make them upbeat and danceable. On “Everydaydreamer”, the funky groove of the bassline takes prominence over the narrator’s trepidation of accepting the reality of the life they live. Twisting patchwork guitars pleasantly distract from the angst of a fraying relationship on “Build It Up”. Kapranos’s “Bah-bah-bah-bahs” cover the quandary of a narrator weighing up whether to start again on the excellent “Bar Lonely”.
Corrie’s greater song writing responsibilities benefit the album. His synths are the most vigorous electronics Franz Ferdinand have put onto a record since Tonight. On “Hooked” they are chunky, direct and make the rumours circulating Reddit that the song could be the UK’s Eurovision Song Contest entry almost believable. On “Doctor”, they frantically whir around Kapranos as he pleads with medical professionals to allow him to stay under their care. On standout “Night or Day”, which is the friendly cousin of The Clash’s “Should I Stay or Should I Go”, Corrie’s pent-up and jaunty keys do the job of a rhythm guitar.
Kapranos’s rallying calls on “Night or Day” to take the highs and the lows of life in equal measure point to another philosophy steering the band. Stoicism, Marcus Aurelious’s philosophy for everyday living, is in vogue. Album opener “Audacious” captures its essence in a three minute burst. A delightful coiled up riff explodes like a Chinese cracker and with a chorus that nods to David Bowie’s “Oh! You Pretty Things”, it can just about extinguish any anxiety. “Don’t stop being audacious / there’s no one to save us / so just carry on” Kapranos sings. It is authentically Franz Ferdinand and its message is perhaps the perfect antidote to the trials of life.