The main thing that once made Franz Ferdinand a compelling band was their distinct style of dance-friendly indie rock that found a home with mainstream audiences back in 2009 with the release of their album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. The guitarist-vocalist duo of Alex Kapranos and Nick McCarthy steered the band toward even more international acclaim with the release of Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action in 2013. But some fans may wonder what they have been up to recently following McCarthy’s quiet departure not long after the release of FFS, their self-titled supergroup collaboration album with the band Sparks in 2015.
The revamped lineup with guitarist Julian Corrie starts off strong on Always Ascending, Franz Ferdinand’s latest album. The title track, “Always Ascending”, kicks off the record with a sound reminiscent of the band’s dance party roots, but much of the rest of the album falls short of replicating the ardor their music once had. In fact, the most interesting tracks are the ones that begin stray away from what one would expect to hear in a Franz Ferdinand album. “Paper Cages” is one such example, a much simpler and stripped-down jam with visually descriptive lyrics. There are a few other tracks like, “Lois Lane” and “Huck and Jim”, that are catchy enough to listen to individually, but they’re spaced out between mundane album filler.
Overall, this album is just barely passable. It’s disappointing to think that this record’s total run-time is just under 40 minutes considering this is Franz Ferdinand’s first solo studio album since 2013. Some of the songs are enjoyable but there’s nothing on this album that will blow you away, even if you’re a stalwart fan of theirs. The band’s instrumentation gets repetitious and Kapranos’ lyrics are not that captivating when compared to some of their older tracks. The name Always Ascending is ironic given the current stagnation of Franz Ferdinand’s discography.
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