Logo
DiS Needs You: Save our site »
  • Logo_home2
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • In Photos
  • Blog
  • Podcast
  • Search
  • Community
  • Records
  • In Depth
  • Blog
  • Community

THIS SITE HAS BEEN ARCHIVED AND CLOSED.

Please join the conversation over on our new forums »

If you really want to read this, try using The Internet Archive.

Franz Ferdinand

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action

Label: Domino Release Date: 26/08/2013

92159
MarcBurrows by Marc Burrows August 23rd, 2013

God bless Franz Ferdinand. Reliable, enduring, brilliant old Franz Ferdinand. Catchy, danceable, clever old Franz Ferdinand. Things have moved on a great deal since ‘Darts Of Pleasure’ and ‘Do You Want To’ soundtracked sticky-floored, sticky-hipped and stubble-on-the-sticky-lipped encounters in the dark of the matinee back in oh-four. Boys with guitars don’t sell anymore, Orange Juice and Gang of Four are no longer the musical touchstone for art-wave indie bands, and it’s all got so much limper. So much more safe. So much less fun. They have their spiritual successors, Django Django for starters, but they can only go so far. It was, frankly, about time we had another Franz Ferdinand record, and we welcome this one with open arms.

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is only album number four from the popstastic Glaswegion quartet, which is weird as it really does feel like they’ve been around forever. Its initial appeal is completely in its familiarity. As opposed to the Franz that presented us with Tonight: Franz Ferdinand four years back, all keyboards, and human-bones-for-percussion and high concepts, Right Thoughts… plugs directly into the hotwired pop heart of their 2004 debut. It has the same Frankenstein smushing of post punk and disco via artschool tweecore, scythed occasionally with krautrock keys, with Alex Kapranos’ bloodthirsty half-croon delivering witty and sensual missives about pop music, bright colours and strawberries.

We kick off with corking first single ‘Right Action’, probably the most Franz Ferdinandy bit on the most Franz Ferdinandy album of Franz Ferdinand’s career. It fizzes, it shimmies, it bops, there’s a little bit of Chic, a little bit of Orange Juice, a little bit of Costello and a lovely, whirley Sixties organ. As dancefloor-orientated indie goes it ticks a lot of boxes. So far so Ich heiße super fantastisch. The spine-twitching, plimsoll-twisting groove runs straight into ‘Evil Eye’, which has the good grace to kick off with a hybrid beat merging ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ to ‘Billie Jean’, and is every bit as awesome as that sounds. Kapranos opens the song by asking “What’s the colour of the next car?” and in what is possibly the most Scottish line ever committed to song his band answer, “It’s red ya’ bastard!”. If anything ‘Evil Eye’ is better than ‘Right Action’, and an obvious single choice. This is what Franz Ferdinand do so well- back in the halcyon days of Britpop there were two sorts of bands, those that boys sang along to and those that girls could dance too. The best managed both. It’s what Franz achieve here so admirably. By the third track, ‘Illumination’, which deviates from the early FF formula with brass stings, and then crystalises it with a vintage synth solo, you’re utterly won over.

What Franz Ferdinand have done here so successfully is distill and concentrate the formula that made them so appealing to begin with - the wit, the tunes, the riffs- everything feels perfectly tooled. It’s a satisfyingly snack-sized 35 minutes of pop bangers that doesn’t drop the ball once and never overstays its welcome. From the garagey ‘Bullet’ to the Beatleish ‘Fresh Strawberries’ to the spiky pop of ‘Treason! Animals.’ Kapranos and co have delivered what is simultaneously ‘just another Franz Ferdinand’ album and one of the indie records of the summer. Don’t leave it so long next time.

  • 7
    Marc Burrows's Score
Log-in to rate this record out of 10
Share on
   
Love DiS? Become a Patron of the site here »


LATEST


  • Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024


  • Drowned in Sound is back!


  • Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Year: 2020


  • Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter


  • Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing


  • Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alternative must sees



Left-arrow

Primal Scream

More Light

Mobback
90191
90196

Vampire Weekend

Modern Vampires of the City

Mobforward
Right-arrow


LATEST

    news


    Why Music Journalism Matters in 2024

  • 106145
  • news


    Drowned in Sound is back!

  • 106143

    news


    Drowned in Sound's 21 Favourite Albums of the Y...

  • 106141
  • news


    Drowned in Sound to return as a weekly newsletter

  • 106139

    Playlist


    Lykke Li's Sadness Is A Blessing

  • 106138
  • Festival Preview


    Glastonbury 2019 preview playlist + ten alterna...

  • 106137

    Interview


    A Different Kind Of Weird: dEUS on The Ideal Crash

  • 106136
  • Festival Review


    Way Out East: DiS Does Sharpe Festival 2019

  • 106135
MORE


    news


    The Neptune Music Prize 2016 - Vote Now

  • 103918
  • Takeover


    The Winner Takes It All

  • 50972

    Takeover


    10 Things To Not Expect Your Record Producer To...

  • 93724
  • review


    The Mars Volta - Deloused In The Comatorium

  • 4317

    review


    Sonic Youth - Nurse

  • 6044
  • feature


    New Emo Goth Danger? My Chemical Romance confro...

  • 89578

    feature


    DiS meets Justice

  • 27270
  • news


    Our Independent music filled alternative to New...

  • 104374
MORE

Drowned in Sound
  • DROWNED IN SOUND
  • HOME
  • SITE MAP
  • NEWS
  • IN DEPTH
  • IN PHOTOS
  • RECORDS
  • RECOMMENDED RECORDS
  • ALBUMS OF THE YEAR
  • FESTIVAL COVERAGE
  • COMMUNITY
  • MUSIC FORUM
  • SOCIAL BOARD
  • REPORT ERRORS
  • CONTACT US
  • JOIN OUR MAILING LIST
  • FOLLOW DiS
  • GOOGLE+
  • FACEBOOK
  • TWITTER
  • SHUFFLER
  • TUMBLR
  • YOUTUBE
  • RSS FEED
  • RSS EMAIL SUBSCRIBE
  • MISC
  • TERM OF USE
  • PRIVACY
  • ADVERTISING
  • OUR WIKIPEDIA
© 2000-2025 DROWNED IN SOUND