Peroxide blonde hair, dark eyeshadow, dark suits, and something of a casting change. It's a whole new Franz Ferdinand. The charismatic Nick McCarthy chose to jump ship to concentrate on his own vessel. Undoing a ten-year symbiosis, Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy had to find a new guitarist. Without any loss of identity, the Swiss army knife sounds of Julian Corrie (Miaoux Miaoux, Maple Leaves) and Dino Bardot gave the Scottish group a new lease of life. And as soon as the dust settled – the album being finished – Corrie's synth-pop blend found a new home.
Recorded over six days in Paris, in the studios of Philippe Zdar, one half of Cassius but also the producer of the Beastie Boys, Cat Power, Phoenix and The Rapture, the well-named Always Ascending has a good-time feel to it. Flirty keyboards with an electro-rock feel perfect for clubs (like the sure-fire hits Feel The Love Go and Always Ascending) give the quartet-cum-quintet a second wind. Inspiration came in 2014 with FFS, which brought them together with their idols and high priests of pop, the Maël brothers, alias Sparks. Five years went by, and the time came for Kapranos's band to concentrate once again on Franz Ferdinand. From standard hit material (Loïc Lane, Lazy Boy) to vague accents of disco in Glimpse Of Love by way of the ballads The Academy Award and Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow, – two contemplative moments amidst this furious medley – this fifth work cements their status as one of Scotland's most important groups. © CS/Qobuz