Franz Ferdinand
The Human Fear
DOMINO
Franz Ferdinand’s sharply dressed appearance and hedonistic appeal were embossed into the Scottish rock band’s DNA from the outset, and it’s only natural for that well-established style to lose its shine over the course of two decades. Their new middle-age album The Human Fear was produced with Mark Ralph (who previously worked on their 2013 disco-punk effort Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action), and it sees the band returning to the studio seven years after their last LP, having recently regrouped to record new material for their 2022 greatest hits comp Hits to the Head.
The 11-song set has drastic swings in quality, but Franz Ferdinand thankfully return to the sense of playfulness missing from their sound lately as they tap into the most upbeat moments on 2009’s Tonight: Franz Ferdinand and 2018’s Always Ascending. This is a small sigh of relief after the core group surrounding frontman Alex Kapranos experienced some lineup shuffles when co-founding members Nick McCarthy and Paul Thomson left the group in recent years. The Human Fear is the first studio release to feature new drummer Audrey Tait and guitarist Dino Bardot, and sees multi-instrumentalist Julian Corrie collaborating more thoroughly with Kapranos and founding bassist Bob Hardy on songwriting and creative duties. All that wear and tear tends to add up over the years for any band.
The Human Fear is a foreboding album title that alludes to some perennial fears we all hold, and how triumphing over what scares us can define and refine a life. Dreading obsolescence might be one of those feelings that lingers on each new album, but the old-fashioned singles factory that is Franz Ferdinand still manages to squeeze out some juice in 2025. Standouts include early singles “Audacious” and “Night or Day,” plus The Beach Boys-y “Tell Me I Should I Stay” and the sultry Euro-dance number “Black Eyelashes.” The variety on this record was rarely heard on its two predecessors—the band even managed to toss in a country-rock bass line on “Cats” and a goofball dance-rock cut about getting cozy with medical treatments that would slot nicely into their Tonight era (“The Doctor”).
The first half contains the most tried and true Franz Ferdinand energy. “Everydaydreamer” is a jolt of You Could Have It So Much Better–era swagger that mixes its dance-punk posing with just a flurry of psychedelic synthesizer billowing over the beat. Russian Polyvox synths (an old Franz Ferdinand favorite circa Tonight) are a welcome presence on the playful “Hooked,” but the mid-tempo miscommunication ode “Build It Up” shambles along in a lackadaisical manner and ironically doesn’t build up to much after its thrilling fake-out bridge. By the time you get to the straightforward rock tracks that finish the album (“Bar Lonely,” “The Birds”), Kapranos’ lyrics and the backing band have veered into dead ends and odd non sequiturs. Franz Ferdinand are still sharp, but their choreography often feels uncoordinated.
