Posted by Franz Ferdinand is back at it. No, not the archduke you learnt about at school but the Scottish indie rockers. After making fans wait seven years they have returned with their sixth album Human Fear, and it offers up more of their brand of new wave tinged indie rock.
Their conciseness and pop sensibilities are present and accounted for. Sensibilities that inhabit the David Bowie aping ‘Audacious’ – a big, lighter waving glam anthem that starts things off nicely. ‘Build It Up’ is a charming slice of bouncy pop rock with a slinky, danceable beat that is over in a flash. If it’s a jaunty little pop song you want then you cannot go much wrong with ‘Night or Day’. “Where can you go where no one knows your name, no one’s glad that you came” cautions ‘Bar Lonely’ – a perky warning against frequenting pubs to often.
It is short and sweet, the record clocks in at 35 minutes, and quirky but nothing really grabs you. It is missing the crowd pleasing, punchy numbers like ‘Take Me Out’ and ‘Do You Want To’. The subtle, Talking Heads pop of ‘everydaydreamer’ with its shuffling bass and ethereal synth melodies and the spiky, hospital themed ‘The Doctor’ are good but not great and they do not linger long in the memory.
“You love no one and everyone at the same time” frontman Alex Kapranos sings in the riffy ode to the most fickle of beasts ‘Cats’. This quirky nature of theirs is a constant and keeps your interest piqued, although some tracks come across as a skippable novelty – like the left field, Greek inspired ‘Black Eyelashes’. The throbbing bass and squawking synths of ‘Hooked’ is very ‘80s and not without its charm, but comes across as a pastiche and sounds like Muse at their worst.
The Human Fear is a concise, catchy but slightly underwhelming collection of Indie that fans will love but everyone else will just like.
6/10
Lofty Music and Film 