Album Review: The Human Fear by Franz Ferdinand

For the Glaswegian indie stalwarts, reflecting on their past has only ever been a means of shaping their future It's 21 years since Franz Ferdinand helped propel indie into the British mainstream with their single Take Me Out. Yet, while the Glasgow group were always easy to admire, they were hard to truly love, lacking the sweaty warmth that emanated from their more chaotic peers. Two decades on, their sixth album finds them still with the same problem: it's a collection of coolly masterful tracks that tend to feel clever rather than endearing.

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I'm not sure anyone asked for a new Franz Ferdinand album, but The Human Fear is here and it's probably worth 35 minutes of your time just to hear the chorus of Cats. It's unclear as to what Alex Kapranos was going for here, but my jaw certainly hit the floor with that last line: "We love everyone We love no one Oh no but they'll never learn They can try to put a lead on, try to put a lead on But they'll never turn a cat into a dog" Kapranos has described the recording of The Human Fear as a life-affirming experience. I'm delighted for him, but when Franz Ferdinand are playing the early evening heritage slot at various mid-tier summer festivals, no one will be screaming for the overworked Hooked or mediocre synth bop The Doctor.

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What should Franz Ferdinand sound like in 2025, more than two decades into their career? It's a question Alex Kapranos has had plenty of time to ruminate on in the seven years that have passed since 'Always Ascending', their last studio album and one that captured them in a moment of transition. That period also encompassed a greatest hits record and accompanying tour, which might have had fans wondering if the creative tank was running low on gas. 'The Human Fear' is an emphatic rejection of that idea.

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There's an age-old aphorism that sometimes you have to look back, in order to go forwards. With 'Hits To The Head' - a glorious singles collection - Franz Ferdinand finally glanced back over their finely tailored shoulders, before embarking on a world tour. This energy seemed to solidify the latest evolution of their line-up, plunging head-first into the studio for 'The Human Fear' - the band's sixth studio album, and one that simultaneously digs into their bedrock, before leaping out into the unknown.

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It's been six years since the previous Franz Ferdinand record, Always Ascending, with a hits collection appearing in between. Now comes `The Human Fear, only their sixth album release in a more than twenty year career. Franz Ferdinand is also a significantly different lineup today (though still centred around the voice and lyrics of Alex Kapranos) following the polite slow-motion shuffling off of founder members Nick McCarthy (who left - originally temporarily, then for good - back in 2016) and Paul Thomson (who quit in the post-Covid 'no gigs' haze of 2021 and was replaced by Audrey Tait).

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