by Adam Hacker
photo by Andy Knowles
Often heralded as one of the great post-punk revivalists of the 2000s, Franz Ferdinand have gone from Gang of Four acolytes to an outright dance-pop band throughout their 16-year career. Granted it isn’t a huge stylistic jump, but it’s enough to keep the sound of these Glasgow boys from going stale. Franz Ferdinand have always seemed able to differentiate themselves from other angular guitar band peers like The Rapture and Bloc Party by never taking themselves too seriously. The post-punk revival at times seemed predicated on (mostly) white men trying their absolute hardest to act as cool as possible, while only taking influences from the same batch of bands from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. Franz Ferdinand reminds us that simply making fun music can be equally inspiring. Their latest album, Always Ascending, peels back some of their previous stylistic experimentation for a fairly back-to-basics record with occasional experimental flourishes.
