On their first record of their own in almost five years, Franz Ferdinand has reemerged with a new lineup and a different take on their sound.
The opening title track has a nice little acoustic ballad intro before it turns into a dance song, just a little more downbeat than most other dance tracks. It’s like they’ve decided to put their guitars away and focus on becoming The Killers. The song isn’t bad but it could be a lot better.
The guitars return on “Paper Cages,” but here they sound a bit like Phoenix meets The 1975, and it’s not necessarily a good sound for them. “Finally” is the closest to the old FF you remember and is one of the highlights for sure. The more downbeat ballad “The Academy Award” is an interesting track, but it ultimately doesn’t go anywhere; it just kind of lays there very rigidly, refusing to do anything that might bring it to life. “Glimpse Of Love” is a nice upbeat track that has flashes of old Franz Ferdinand and is one that’s destined to get you on the dance floor – and on that note, it does its job very well. Closing track “Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow” is an odd little number that never really gets its wings. It’s just kind of bland and a bit lifeless.
All in all, this album shows a band in transition, trying to reclaim their identity and stumbling a bit in the process, but managing to come up with some interesting things in the meantime. This is an intriguing record with some really good tracks — it just feels like the material itself could be stronger.
