FRANZ FERDINAND > Tonight: Franz Ferdinand

Having made their name with two albums that were dominated by tangles of angular guitar lines and sneering lead vocals, it was easy to miss the fact that Franz Ferdinand’s most exceptional musical trait was the interplay of their airtight rhythm section.Label: DOMINO
[Rating: 3.5 Stars]

Having made their name with two albums that were dominated by tangles of angular guitar lines and sneering lead vocals, it was easy to miss the fact that Franz Ferdinand’s most exceptional musical trait was the interplay of their airtight rhythm section. As such, it’s no great surprise that the Scottish quartet would go the next step and experiment with dance music in earnest on their third full-length release, a mix of disco beats, vintage synth hooks, and their trademark wiry guitar leads. But as no drum loops or modern production touches turn up among the album’s 11 tracks, it’s a dance record in the same sense that Blondie or Orange Juice records are dance records. A concept album in reverse-as the band only realized during sequencing that the songs told the story of a long night of hedonism that ends in loneliness-the arena-sized hooks and shout-along choruses remain, but the grooves are always at the album’s center.