Several listens in, and as this album works its considerable charms with each successive listen, the thought occurs: have we been guilty of taking Franz Ferdinand for granted? The Human Fear is the band’s sixth album and their first in seven years (the seventh album if we include their collaboration as FFS with Sparks back in 2015). The line-up has changed, and yet the band sounds as alive and firing on all cylinders as they ever have.
The Human Fear was produced with Mark Ralph, who previously worked with them on their 2013 album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. Of course, a producer has to work with what they’re given (unless you’re going down some unfortunate Milli Vanilli route… Ask your grandparents!), and in this case, the album was much all written before they hit the studio. The idea was to have a songbook ready before they started recording and once in the studio it was all quickly executed, much of it recorded live with the band in the room and many of the vocals on the album being the original takes.
The result of this is an album that doesn’t hang about, feeling as fresh as anything they have ever recorded (yes, I am perfectly serious). It’s 11 songs and 35 minutes in length, and it’s very much a case of quality and quantity (I mean, yes, there was a time when people thought an album should fill up an entire CD of approximately 78 minutes and look where that got us).
Most importantly it’s got the songs; none of which are filler. Franz Ferdinand are very much a band, it’s not become the case that it’s simply original band members singer-guitarist Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy with hired hands: Julian Corrie (keyboards), Dino Bardot (guitar) and drummer Audrey Tait feel very much a vital part of this new record. There are the original post-punk flourishes that first got them noticed combined with more of the electronic work that started creeping in about the time of their third album. Album opener ‘Audacious’ has hints of Suede and The Kinks. It might seem quite a mellow cut for an album opener but it works.
Then it takes us on some interesting but successful directions. There’s the electro-stomper of ‘Hooked‘ which is so infectious it doesn’t need to be remixed for the dancefloor. Additionally, other standout tracks include ‘Black Eyelashes‘ with its wonderful Eastern European influences, and ‘Tell Me I Should Stay‘ with its twentieth-century classical flourishes.
I’ve tried to work out what the standout tracks are, but over the course of half a dozen listens (and there will be more, believe me) it keeps changing. Which is a pretty commendable state of affairs.
The first classic album of 2025? You’d better believe it.
