Albums: The Human Fear

Released on 10 January 2025, "The Human Fear", Franz Ferdinand's 6th., studio album comes in nice form under the production by Mark Ralph, is also the first full studio album to feature guitarist Dino Bardot, who joined the band after the recording of 2018's Always Ascending, and drummer Audrey Tait, who replaced original member Paul Thomson in 2021. The album was preceded by the singles "Audacious", "Night Or Day" amd "Hooked" 

Recorded at AYR Studios in Scotland, the album's title refers to the album's primary lyrical concept of fear and "searching for the thrill of being human via fears", as described by band frontman Alex Kapranos, also states that the album touches upon certain types of specific fear, including "fear of social isolation, fear of leaving an institution, and fear of leaving or staying in a relationship". 

The band just arrived after the released a greatest hits album in 2022, so by now the time was right to prioritizing new material indeed they've never released an irredeemably bad album, never chased trends, even if in recent years their studio output has slowed to a trickle. Their brand new album came five years after their 2018's disco-colored "Always Ascending", and this new one sounds a lot like that album.

The album opens with the pleasant and intense "Audacious", a sort of power pop track that involves the listener and set the mood for the danceable "Everydaydreamer", "The Doctor" comes next, a tale about Kapranos playing a hospital patient who refuses to go home: "I have nurses I can talk to and thermometers to hold" pretty curious indeed, next is "Hooked",  a sort of electroclash tune, with "Build It Up", one of the several songs co-written by keyboardist Julian Corrie, the band sets a funky tune with a chorus that packs enough momentum for festival stages, and then "Night And Day" one of the preceded singles that sounds great, and then the smooth with a piano-movie intro "Tell Me I Should Stay" that moves into a reggae-pop swing sound, and then, the introspective "Cats" that reminds me a little bit like "Dark Of The Matinee" of their debut album released 20 years ago.

The last three track are nice "Black Eyelashes", the sad one "Bar Lonely" and the closer "The Birds"  a sort of post-punk intense track that do a great job the close the record, most of the songs are easygoing with plenty of hooks and a few big swings, that makes a fair album that keeps the band's legacy unharmed. 

 

The Human Fear Track List:

 

1. Audacious

2. Everydaydreamer

3. The Doctor

4. Hooked

5. Build It Up

6. Night Or Day

7. Tell Me I Should Stay

8. Cats

9. Black Eyelashes

10. Bar Lonely

11. The Birds