"Tonight," Franz Ferdinand's third album, is apparently supposed to chronicle the highs and lows of an epic night on the town. That's a pretty great concept for a record, if you ask me; I'm surprised no one's come up with it before. From dance-floor romance to 3 a.m. heartbreak, it's a premise rife with possibility, positively begging for sudden mood swings and stylistic changes. One can picture the wild musical shifts as evening drinks segue into cab ride, club and finally bedroom.
Well, "wild" turns out to be one of the last words I would use to describe "Tonight." Instead, the overall mood of the album is one of safe reassurance, more like a calm evening at the bar with good friends than a crazed night of debauchery. This is not a criticism, though. After all, Franz Ferdinand didn't become famous for their originality. Frontman Alex Kapranos might look like a cross between David Bowie and David Byrne, but he hasn't an ounce of their chameleonic daring.
Like Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand peddle a sturdy, reliable brand of pop/rock, one that's not big on messing with listeners' expectations. Strong vocal hooks and memorable riffs are prioritized over atmosphere or complexity; choruses are just as often filled with "la la la"s or "da dee da"s as they are with real words. And I'm not denying the potency of that approach. Their self-titled debut was terrific fun, "Take Me Out" is easily one of the songs of the decade, and, even if their sophomore effort was a facsimile of their first album, it was far from a disaster.
"Tonight" was supposed to be where everything changed. As usually occurs before a band releases its third album, big promises were made about "experimentation," and Franz Ferdinand took a four-year hiatus that screamed of artistic reinvention or, to put it more bluntly, "please take us seriously."
Well, very little has changed. A bit of electronica here, a bit of rhythmic invention there, but on the whole, "Tonight" is a consolidation of the band's strengths rather than a wild lurch into the unknown. And in the end, what's wrong with that? If you ask me, it's nice to have Franz Ferdinand back in the game, doing their thing. There's something refreshingly unpretentious about their approach, a straightforwardness that's rare in contemporary alternative rock.
Opener "Ulysses" sets the tone for the album. A few wisps of electronic chatter float about, but really the song is Franz 101: swaggering verse, stomping chorus, gratuitous overuse of "la la la." You know the drill. The same goes for most of the album. "Turn It On" is a devilishly catchy rocker, with Kapranos' irresistible croon soaring over an elastic bass line. "No You Girls" sounds like an out-take from the band's debut, riffy and terse. And the delicious "Twilight Omens" is the album's ecstatic pop gem, instantly memorable and an obvious future single.
Occasionally, though, there is a sense of "been there, done that." "Bite Hard," for instance, is as tired and boring as its name is tasteless, a poor melody uninterestingly arranged. The clunky "What She Came For" is even more phoned in, starting off with a nice little synth riff but then going absolutely nowhere. It also has some of the worst harmonies I've ever heard on record. If the band wanted the chorus to sound like the grating screech of nails on a blackboard, it did a great job.
To say the album is utterly bereft of experimentation, though, would be a lie. Yes, the overall tone of "Tonight" is rather unadventurous, but that's not to say there aren't a few audacious moments lurking within. "Can't Stop Feeling," tucked in towards the end of the album, struts atop a clattering Timbaland-style beat, all growling synths and off-beat percussion. It's an exhilarating track, and an exciting glimpse into a possible future avenue for the band: electro-rock.
Still, it's nothing compared to "Lucid Dreams," a barnstorming rage of synth noise that is easily the album's highlight: the peak of the night, the moment of transcendence on the club dance floor. The track starts off pretty tamely, just another straightforward rocker on an album full of them. Then, about halfway through, Kapranos lets the mike be and the song transforms. Buzz-saw guitar riffs begin to coalesce, slowly and smoothly melting into one another until all that's left is an obliterating assault of crunchy synths. It's an exhilarating moment, one that would hardly seem amiss on Daft Punk's recent "Alive" concert album – an audacious marriage of rock and electronica that proves there really is more to the band than repackaging "Take Me Out."
One can only hope that Franz Ferdinand will have more confidence in their abilities next time around, and sprinkle their experimentation more evenly. As it stands, "Lucid Dreams" is the wild card on "Tonight," sticking out like a Madonna single mistakenly dropped into a Metallica record. It's a thrilling moment, yes, but it also derails the flow of the music, throwing listeners off into a demented techno wonderland before roughly bringing them back to earth with the downbeat closing tracks.
With "Tonight," Franz Ferdinand have cemented their position as a great rock band. At the same time, they've tentatively laid the groundwork for a new and more adventurous phase of their career. The "808s and Heartbreak" for rock n' roll? I for one have my fingers crossed.
"Tonight" released on January 26th, 2009 by Domino Records.
Images courtesy of Domino Records and Empire Online.
Published in the Daily Princetonian.
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