After a lengthy four year wait, Franz Ferdinand have returned with their latest release, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand generally blends together synthy electro-pop with the oh-so-familiar post-punk mentality.
Tonight: Franz Ferdinand opens with “Ulysses”, which is easily the most catchy radio driven track to be found on the album. The track begins with a simplistic bass riff reminiscent to Spoon’s 2005 hit “I Turn My Camera On”, before it segways into a bridge filled with jagged electronic riffs and lead singer Kaprano’s pleading “Well I’m bored, I’m bored, come on let’s get highhh.”
The following track, “Turn it On” seems to have the most in common with earlier Franz material, while “No You Girls” holds a danceable rhythm that somehow incorporates a human skeleton as a source for the percussion.
“Twilight Omens” is easily the best produced track on Tonight… while also being the most radical for the typically guitar driven band.
“Twilight Omens” opens with an organ riff that you would expect to hear in a early 20th century Western silent film before it makes the graceful transition into modernity with Kapranos singing “I wrote your name upon the back of my hands Slept upon it and I woke up with it Backwards on my face Reading forwards to my mirror To my heart” clever, but far too intricate.
“Send Him Away” holds a Soweto vibe similar to Paul Simon Graceland era (or more recently Vampire Weekend), while “Live Alone” values the ethos “less is more” by providing a simplistic bass driven rhythm accompanied by a two note keyboard riff. The only throw-away track is “What She Came For”, a track conveniently placed in the middle of the album.
Franz Ferdinand in past interviews have made it clear that they planned to rely a lot less on the guitar for the recording of this album, and it seems that they managed to stay true to their word. “Lucid Dreams” perfectly validates the prior statement. The track generally blends in with the tone of the album until around the five-minute mark where it makes the radical shift to a spiky synth driven breakdown that uncharacteristically cries Dub.
Tonight… closes with “Katherine Kiss Me”, which acts as a sigh of relief where dual acoustic guitars and Kapranos vocals are only to be found. After consistently being overwhelmed (in a good way) with musical experimentation, it’s nice to hear the band stripped and back to basics. Franz Ferdinand may have made a career out of ripping off other late 70’s early 80’s U.K bands, but when you’re this good at it, who really cares?
***. / ***** 3.5 out of 5
(Archived from 2/2/09)
Posted on Wednesday, October 28th, 2009 at 8:10 am
Tags: Franz Ferdinand, Reviews
Posted in Reviews |
