By Pete Donahue

It’s been over three years since Franz Ferdinand dropped You Could Have Had It So Much Better, but Glasgow’s dance-rock quartet are no longer in hiding, working on new material. Today marks the release of their newest album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. Does the record hold up? Is it just more new-wave/dance rock? Fair questions, but only one should matter: is it good?

Picture this: the band’s self-titled debut album and You Could Have Had It So Much Better were the records you’d get drunk to and dance, dance, dance the night away with your friends (at least that’s what I saw a lot of during college in New York). So Tonight: Franz Ferdinand is the record you put on as you get ready to go out and get drunk and dance. While it’s still an album you can shake and groove to, the music has expanded to include more instruments, sleeker production (courtesy of Dan Carey), and to take chances. Oh, and there are a lot of synthesizers, too.

The first single is also the first song, “Ulysses.” For some reason, it’s not a favorite of mine, but I can see why it’s been chosen to re-introduce us to the band that’s got a few excellent singles to their name (including ones not on any albums). “Ulysses” is slow and starts with a keyboard and minimal drum shuffle, building up into a bona-fide Franz-signature dance track loaded with heavy keys and whispered vocals. With singer Alex Kapranos boasting “I found a way/I found a new way/C’mon doll and use me/I don’t need your sympathy,” the track recounts a wild night out on the town. One thing I notice is the lack of guitars on the song, which ends up being a running theme through the entire album. It appears Nick McCarthy has grown very fond of thick-sounding analog keyboards, and by no means do I find that a bad thing.

Following “Ulysses” is “Turn It On,” a great upbeat banger with a little hint of voyeurism and a great sing-along chorus (“Ya know I’d follow you to Rome/I know the places you go home!”). The verses rely mostly on a beefed up bass to carry the song with the occasional sci-fi keyboard bit before some rhythm guitar helps with the chorus. Like many songs off Tonight, it’s all about the beat.

“No You Girls” is a classic Franz-sounding lament about the trails and tribulations that come with chasing women and the wonderful pain caused by the opposite sex. The chorus is a straight-up dance affair with a huge vocal presence (“No you girls never know/How you make a boy feel, you girls’ll never know!”) and is one of the best the album offers. Fans of the no-nonsense dance tracks of Franz yesteryear like “Take Me Out” will instantly gravitate towards this track.

“Send Him Away” is an interesting little number; sounding like the band’s take on 70′s AM radio pop, it’s benefits from a cool electric piano lick and is rather breezy and easy going. Definitely a break from the upbeat dance tracks, the song culminates in a Santana (yeah, Santana)-like jam off with funky guitar licks and crashing drums augmented by more percussion and psychedelic keyboards. Really, really cool stuff here and a welcomed introduction into the band’s arsenal of sounds.

While “Twilight Omens” is lead by a funky synth line that sounds like it was recorded underwater, it does contain a little loud electric guitars in the chorus. Backed by a solid clean piano, I would like to point out the song does contain one of the funniest Franz Ferdinand lines I’ve ever come across: “I typed your number into my calculator/Where it spelled a dirty word when you turn it upside down/You can turn my dirty world the right way ’round.” It’s also another slower number, but it sneaks along with just enough sex appeal to get maybe a few drunk enough on the dance floor.

“Bite Hard” starts off with a very slow Alex Kapranos vocal and piano reminiscent of “Eleanor, Put Your Boots On,” but opens up into an awesome straight-forward rock and roll song one could proper dance to. I honestly picture it the kind of rock song people at Studio 54 in Manhattan would dance to in the 70′s because it has a great retro feel – more electric piano and an analog synth lead so thick you need to insert your own cliche to describe how thick it is. There’s also a great arena-rock guitar solo loaded with a phaser that gives the song a great loud feel.

“What She Came For” is another mid-tempo dance number with a sing-along question (“Woah, boy, look out/You’re what she came for!”). Luckily, the loud part of the band’s sound is here in full-force with a serious twin-guitar rock out at the end that harks back to 80′s CBGB punk.

“Live Alone” is another contender for Best on Album. It’s more or less a disco song with a very pulsing bass line, ride cymbal-mania in the chorus, and wonderful airy synths straight from the 70′s. There’s also more sci-fi sound effects that round out the retro vibe, as if the song were cut for a low-budget space movie with a dance scene. “Can’t Stop Feeling” also contains a serious bass line and catchy synth lead tailor-made for fancy shopping at H&M. There’s also a hearty dose of additional digital percussion that really shines with Carey’s input on Tonight.

“Lucid Dreams” is a near eight-minute space jam that’s one-half regular Franz dance-rock number and one-half digital psychedelic jam. If you’ve heard that crazy outro on “Nicotine & Gravy” off Midnite Vultures by Beck, then you will get the grasp. Crazy digital beats, spaced-out synths, wailing guitars – all-in-all, a really fun way to close out a song and a welcomed experiment.

The album closes with the acoustic ballad “Katherine, Kiss Me.” “You glance a ricochet from every alpha male behind me/Eyes like marbles on a washing machine/I wonder how the boy feels?” Kapranos asks. A very interesting, elegant album closer, considering the sweaty fury left by almost all of the other songs, but a worthy finale, too. Fans of quieter, whimsical Franz Ferdinand moments will appreciate “Katherine, Kiss Me” and rightfully so.

When I was in college at Binghamton University a few years ago, I remember the “new” nu-wave craze that brought us Franz, The Killers and Bloc Party. All three bands have now put out their third albums and I think while the Killers and Bloc Party are trying (maybe too hard?) to move away from the energy captured in their first albums, Franz has embraced it and still runs with it all the way to better and better songs. I applaud Tonight not as a Franz Ferdinand fan, but as a music fan.

Myspace: Franz Ferdinand
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Buy: Tonight:Franz Ferdinand