Franz Ferdinand – Right Action
Raised eyebrows at the indie disco as the older guys in the too-tight Sta-Prest cut a rug.
FRANZ FERDINAND. HAVE WE missed them? Perhaps not desperately – there was a sense (was there not?) of their post-2009 hiatus being well timed: they left the party early, before they were ejected. But is it good to have them back? Most definitely, as indie rock (or whoddever) has waxed ever more up-its-own-bum since 2009, and FF's qualities of wry, mature Weltschmerz appear more and more at a premium. Right Action encapsulates the bouncier side of their forthcoming Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action album (arrival: August 26) – reviving the slinky, disco-friendly shimmy that prompted Liam Gallagher's memorable Right Said Fred jibe. Meanwhile, its juxtaposition of the Buddha's Noble Eightfold Path with a sheepish return from an illicit night out is a typical Alex Kapranos conundrum: how to be good, when being bad is so much fun? "The Intellect Vs The Soul," noted the singer in a recent Domino Records press release, "played out by some dumb band".
And here they are again, recording and road-testing album opener Evil Eye. Who says being in a band is infantilizing?...
You can pre-order all formats of the Franz Ferdinand album here. Look out for a review in the next issue of MOJO magazine – onsale July 30.