With Franz Ferdinand’s sixth studio album, The Human Fear, frontman Alex Kapranos and company proudly wear their musical influences on their sleeves. Now in their second decade of existence, the Scottish indie band made a name for themselves in the aughts by creating accessible dance punk shot through with Kapranos’ sultry tenor. On The Human Fear, Franz Ferdinand pull from sources as disparate as sixties pop and 2000’s electro, often surfing over various genres in the same three-minute song, to mixed effect.
“Audacious”, The Human Fear’s opener, see-saws back and forth between a verse that sounds like something the Strokes might have done in the 2010s, and a chorus that apes a style akin to the plucky piano bridge of the Beatles’ “Martha My Dear”. The inspirations make for an odd pairing, but because the references are so obvious, the song comes across as familiar, and therefore safe. Kapranos puts on his sexiest croon for “Everydaydreamer”, a mid-tempo number that goes down easy. The band shifts back into Comedown Machine-era Strokes territory with “The Doctor”, a lyrically vapid moment that has Kapranos shouting the word “doctor” over and over in between a ridiculous anecdote delivered by a patient who doesn’t want to leave the hospital. The electro-charged “Hooked” makes for a solid dancefloor moment complete with a decent synth hook just before the plucky Beatles-esque piano returns during side A’s closer, “Night Or Day”.
Opening side B with “Tell Me I Should Stay”, a piano ballad that rolls into a reggae groove before dropping us into Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, is a chaotic sequencing choice. The genre-jumping moment gives us even more dumb lyrics, like, “This son of a tailor says he’ll keep a stitch for every day he’s gone, how long, how long, how long, how long will this seam run on?” Ugh! “Cats” is reminiscent of output from Franz Ferdinand’s earliest years. The synthesizer-free track, with its rat-a-tat drumming and spritely guitar lead, is comparatively refreshing. The band are obviously still capable of recreating the sound they trademarked back in 2004. One wonders why they didn’t include more arrangements like this. The album’s final third opens with “Black Eyelashes”, a weird detour into Russian folk complete with lyrics delivered in both English and Russian. How did we get here?
The Human Fear ends on a high note with “The Birds”, a solid stomper that has the band returning to the style they became appreciated for during their mid-2000s debut. While Franz Ferdinand’s latest full-length makes for a somewhat entertaining listen initially, it soon loses its charm, revealing itself as an inconsistent mess. Although the musicianship is solid, and Alex Kapranos’ voice is as smooth and pleasant as ever, the lyrics are largely unimaginative and trite. Do what the band should have done: stick to their early stuff.
Rating: 5.0/10