Album Review: Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending

Let's be honest: the title track and lead single from Franz Ferdinand's fifth album is pretty dumb. As hooks go, "Put your ladder down," is unworthy of the creators of Take Me Out, and the Talking Heads bombast via Killers ambience misses the mark, even as Alex Kapranos embraces his inner David Byrne. 

But the title is prophetic, because from that point on Always Ascending is mostly uphill. Kapranos and co manage to broaden their sonic palette while still delivering the kind of danceable, hook-laden indie rock they're known for.

They're helped in the task by keyboardist Julian Corrie (Miaoux Miaoux) who, with Dino Bardot, former guitarist from 1990s, joined the band following the departure of founding rhythm guitarist Nick McCarthy. Corrie's synth stings lend a demented edge to the sardonic Paper Cages; his keys joust eerily with Lazy Boy's walking bass line and injections of fuzz guitar, and bring cinematic ambience to the maudlin (by Franz Ferdinand standards) The Academy Award.

Arguably the two best tracks come midway through, courtesy of  Lois Lane's dark synth-pop - a brutally cynical take on the dying of youthful idealism - and the shape-shifting Huck And Jim, whose tone and tempo changes cumulate in a big fuzz-rock chorus, with Kapranos' vocals at their most gleefully brash.