The Tape

Weekly Album Review – Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

Written by pistachionut on Wednesday, 28 of January , 2009 at 4:42 pm

Franz Ferdinand are back. After a near slightly over 3 years of hiatus, the band released their 3rd album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand yesterday. Following 2004′s self titled debut and 2005′s You Could Have It So Much Better, Tonight is a move away from the jagged guitars and post punk melodies that made their sound so popular. In a Rolling Stone interview from winter 2007, frontman Alex Kapranos stated that the record is “more of a dance record than a rock record.” (Read the full interview here.) The album opens with single “Ulysses.” The song features what may be Franz Ferdinand’s first prominent synthline ever. That synth builds into a glorious chorus reminiscent of their older music, but the dancy feel Kapranos promised is certainly intact and regocnizeable. The album rolls through “Turn It On,” “No You Girls” and “Send Him Away,” all of which have the same feel as tracks that could be found on their first and second albums. They’re very solid songs, but nothing standout. “What She Came For” begins what is really the second half of the record. The last six songs start with four on the dancier side, and then two ballads. “What She Came For” is a more dance punk song, think the Rapture or even a more guitar driven LCD Soundsystem. “Lucid Dreams” begins with the classic Franz sound, but breaks down into so much more. The seven minute song finds itself traveling from rock to a bonafide electro song by the 5 minute mark. The final two songs, the ballads, are not very impressive. They’ve never done this type of song so well, (see “Eleanor Put Your Boots Back On” from You Could Have It So Much Better.) On the whole, Tonight is a very impressive return after a long period of time off. It’s everything fans of the previous two albums could’ve hoped for, and a little bit more that may be able to attract a larger, more dance-oriented fan base.

Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses

Franz Ferdinand – What She Came For

EDIT: For all of our readers in LA who are fans of Franz Ferdinand and of Amoeba Records (best record store ever) but can’t make it down there tonight, Amoeba is providing a webcast of the event on their site. So check it out at 7pm.

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Category: Miscellaneous

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