Franz Ferdinand once lit up the stage with hits such as “Do You Want To?” and “Take Me Out.” But on their third album, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand,” they fell flat on their face.
Franz Ferdinand’s hot dance hall vibe simmered out to make room for a disappointing mix of electronics and synthesizers.
This is not to say that their new album is a complete flop, because it’s still a decent attempt.
Franz Ferdinand made certain with songs such as “Ulysses” and “Bite Hard” that they will always have loud bass drums and guitars. And they still have a knack for smashing the stage up with upbeat drum beats and loud guitar strums. “Turn it On” is an awesome jam with angular guitar riffs, while front man Alex Kapranos and the gang sing “Turn it on!”
The electronic sounds aren’t too bad either. Some of the mixing effects, especially in “What She Came For,” are spectacular, with a buzz coming in a crescendo at the beginning of the song.
The spacey keyboard sounds in “Live Alone” make Franz Ferdinand sound more futuristic than I ever expected they’d get. And the creepy buzz of the synthesizer in “Can’t Stop Feeling” sounds like something from a creepy Addams Family film.
However, I’m disappointed in the songs in which electronics completely take over. Sure, Franz Ferdinand tried to kick in the blues bass and some Afro-Cuban synthesizer sounds in the song “Send Him Away,” but their guitar work is pretty quiet. As a result, they don’t really sound like they’re on fire.
In fact, the electric guitar is almost non-existent in the song “Can’t Stop Feeling,” as if Franz Ferdinand felt like their synthesizers would sound a lot cooler. I like synthesizers, I really do, but Alex Kapranos is not nearly as creative with electronics as Thom Yorke from Radiohead. In fact, in the middle of the eight-minute ballad “Lucid Dreams,” I was really tired of listening to those dull, electronic sounds. Eventually, the band took a back seat and switched to Depeche Mode-style electronics, which made the band sound older than they really are.
Kapranos played a lovely acoustic guitar ballad at the end, called “Katherine Kiss Me.” Perhaps he should have stayed with his acoustic songs, as he did in “You Could Have It So Much Better.” But the damage has been done with the awful electronics in the previous songs.
Pitchfork magazine also noted that Franz Ferdinand was taking part in some weird recording experiments as well. Franz Ferdinand first hired Brian Higgins from Girls Aloud to produce their third album and then fired him. They then engaged in long studio jams, electronic experiments and some of the weird recording experiments. They moved to an old church and recorded from overhead microphones swinging on their cords. They played in humongous church halls and holed their electronics in tiny rooms. They’ve also played around with lots of synthesizers, all to produce the third album and yet the songs still sound somewhat mediocre.
Hell, they even have videos on YouTube documenting their experiments. But some of their experiments are just so weird that I almost thought Kopranos was high on drugs while making this album.
Franz Ferdinand just cannot rock as hard as the other disco-punk bands anymore. They certainly were not able make a smooth transition to electronics as the post-punk band Bloc Party did with their blazing fast, electronic-laden third album, “Intimacy.” Bloc Party and Arctic Monkeys quickly became the future of disco-punk music with their latest albums, while Franz Ferdinand sat on their hands.
Franz Ferdinand should have stuck to their instincts and played lovely acoustic songs and slamming dance songs, but they didn’t. This is a mediocre effort from what used to be a great disco-rock band. If anything, people should pay attention to better bands, such as the Arctic Monkeys or Bloc Party.
