Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending
Always Ascending
First track on the album and it is back to a very standard feeling Franz Ferdinand sound. This isn't like their singles which break the mold somewhat like Dark of the Matinee does, but it is leaning harder into a really buzzing hard synth feel. That normally means we are getting their slightly more dance beat stuff.
Lazy Boy
Same.
Paper Cages
Pretty standard "You are limiting yourself you could be so much more" positivity sort of tracks. Some pretty fun wordplay in the lyrics though. It isn't quite Los Campesinos! levels or anything, but Franz Ferdinand are way straighter pop. This is still a cool dancable beat, but is a bit more on the drum line than the bass guitar to drive it.
Finally
There isn't much going on here. It is a fine Franz Ferdinand track, but it is literally just 5 different ways to say "It feels good to fit in" repeated.
The Academy Award
Here is your single track where it stops having a dance beat and twangy guitar. Instead you get melancholy and bittersweet lyrics over some acoustic guitar. True to Franz Ferdinand style though you have a real basic bass line that is pushed really hard in the mix.
This is probably the most fun track lyrically, working in some really weird stuff to get into lyrics. 404 - Gateway Not found, Hikikomori, Laptop predator. It has a lot of ground just for a song simultaneously about cheating and how prevalent pornography seems to be? That or it is just about a stalker/murderer like it uses the language of. Which is to say of course it is framed as an upbeat track because that's what they do.
Probably the best track on the album.
Lois Lane
Back to that kicking beat. It starts as exactly as it is on the tin talking about vague references to Lois Lane and journalism and how you could change the world. Then pivots into not liking "Him" and it making them lot like Lois any more. She makes choices that make her happy. Then it turns into a change about how at the over thirties singles night it is bleak. I don't really know what the fuck is going on, but you know I like bitter break up songs and spiteful tracks about former exes, so yeah I dig this.
Huck and Jim
Here is your big guitar track for the album. It is angry about something in politics and I can't pinpoint exactly what. You would expect it to just generally be how fucked things are in the US at the moment "We're going to america, we're gonna tell them about the NHS", but it also has a callout of champagne democrats. So it could be what you would hope but it could be anything without spending more than 2 minutes thinking about it.
Glimpse of Love
I hope this makes it off the album as a single, because that might actually get them some airplay again. Bass line is funky as fuuuuck on this track and it is a good time. The lyrics are that quotable not quite making sense that feels like it is saying something like they do so well and the lead guitar is spot on. Probably all about obsession with beauty and stuff, but I am starting to fall asleep and don't think I am capable of really being confident in a read.
Feel the Love Go
Suuuuper cut down track to start off with that builds up to a normal Franz Ferdinand track. It is the second single apparently. It is 5 minutes of "it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all", whic is underselling it, but that again is also kind of what they do.
It does end up building enough to have a Saxaphone solo though, so I guess I should praise it for just how much it builds from like a 3 beat bass line.
Slow Don't Kill Me Slow
Alright I have run out of ways to describe tracks that don't have tons going on but I like anyway. Its a slow mellow track to run to the end of the album, it fits.
Something this track does that I should probably have noticed before is how much in general the album talks about visual arts. Like not just movies and cinema, but cameras and photography in general. This track specifically also references Still Life as well, so I think it is less specifically about Camera based stuff and more just capturing moments in time. Not specifically flattering posed bits but snapshots of actual bits of lived life. Glimpse of Love would be the big ticket example of that for theming.
Anyway... as a whole, it is a Franz Ferdinand album. You kind of know what you are getting into if you are into them, it doesn't shake up the formula and the formula is pretty old by now. I don't mean that to be damning at all or anything, it just is what it is. If you don't know them, then I can't say this album specifically has much to make it stand out and me recommend it, but on the other hand it also is very representative and I don't think there is a bad track on the album and even their best albums are really 2/3 stand out songs that get used as singles and then a bunch of filler stuff that feels good to listen to when you want to listen to some Franz Ferdinand. So it is just as good as any other one to start with if you wanted to try them out.Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending
Always Ascending
First track on the album and it is back to a very standard feeling Franz Ferdinand sound. This isn't like their singles which break the mold somewhat like Dark of the Matinee does, but it is leaning harder into a really buzzing hard synth feel. That normally means we are getting their slightly more dance beat stuff.
Lazy Boy
Same.
Paper Cages
Pretty standard "You are limiting yourself you could be so much more" positivity sort of tracks. Some pretty fun wordplay in the lyrics though. It isn't quite Los Campesinos! levels or anything, but Franz Ferdinand are way straighter pop. This is still a cool dancable beat, but is a bit more on the drum line than the bass guitar to drive it.
Finally
There isn't much going on here. It is a fine Franz Ferdinand track, but it is literally just 5 different ways to say "It feels good to fit in" repeated.
The Academy Award
Here is your single track where it stops having a dance beat and twangy guitar. Instead you get melancholy and bittersweet lyrics over some acoustic guitar. True to Franz Ferdinand style though you have a real basic bass line that is pushed really hard in the mix.
This is probably the most fun track lyrically, working in some really weird stuff to get into lyrics. 404 - Gateway Not found, Hikikomori, Laptop predator. It has a lot of ground just for a song simultaneously about cheating and how prevalent pornography seems to be? That or it is just about a stalker/murderer like it uses the language of. Which is to say of course it is framed as an upbeat track because that's what they do.
Probably the best track on the album.
Lois Lane
Back to that kicking beat. It starts as exactly as it is on the tin talking about vague references to Lois Lane and journalism and how you could change the world. Then pivots into not liking "Him" and it making them lot like Lois any more. She makes choices that make her happy. Then it turns into a change about how at the over thirties singles night it is bleak. I don't really know what the fuck is going on, but you know I like bitter break up songs and spiteful tracks about former exes, so yeah I dig this.
Huck and Jim
Here is your big guitar track for the album. It is angry about something in politics and I can't pinpoint exactly what. You would expect it to just generally be how fucked things are in the US at the moment "We're going to america, we're gonna tell them about the NHS", but it also has a callout of champagne democrats. So it could be what you would hope but it could be anything without spending more than 2 minutes thinking about it.
Glimpse of Love
I hope this makes it off the album as a single, because that might actually get them some airplay again. Bass line is funky as fuuuuck on this track and it is a good time. The lyrics are that quotable not quite making sense that feels like it is saying something like they do so well and the lead guitar is spot on. Probably all about obsession with beauty and stuff, but I am starting to fall asleep and don't think I am capable of really being confident in a read.
Feel the Love Go
Suuuuper cut down track to start off with that builds up to a normal Franz Ferdinand track. It is the second single apparently. It is 5 minutes of "it is better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all", whic is underselling it, but that again is also kind of what they do.
It does end up building enough to have a Saxaphone solo though, so I guess I should praise it for just how much it builds from like a 3 beat bass line.
Slow Don't Kill Me Slow
Alright I have run out of ways to describe tracks that don't have tons going on but I like anyway. Its a slow mellow track to run to the end of the album, it fits.
Something this track does that I should probably have noticed before is how much in general the album talks about visual arts. Like not just movies and cinema, but cameras and photography in general. This track specifically also references Still Life as well, so I think it is less specifically about Camera based stuff and more just capturing moments in time. Not specifically flattering posed bits but snapshots of actual bits of lived life. Glimpse of Love would be the big ticket example of that for theming.
Anyway... as a whole, it is a Franz Ferdinand album. You kind of know what you are getting into if you are into them, it doesn't shake up the formula and the formula is pretty old by now. I don't mean that to be damning at all or anything, it just is what it is. If you don't know them, then I can't say this album specifically has much to make it stand out and me recommend it, but on the other hand it also is very representative and I don't think there is a bad track on the album and even their best albums are really 2/3 stand out songs that get used as singles and then a bunch of filler stuff that feels good to listen to when you want to listen to some Franz Ferdinand. So it is just as good as any other one to start with if you wanted to try them out.
