Franz Ferdinand – Audacious Review

Show a moment of willingness to take bold risks. Franz Ferdinand is not doing us any favours with Audacious, which in name alone hints at an exploration of their genre. Better yet it could mean an enriching push into some new sound, a work which does not sound like their greatest hit. But with a new album on the way every song provides a chance to be unique, to be daring as their lead single, Audacious, should be. Temper those expectations. From a cover art ripped straight from the first slide of a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation on quarterly revues to the clunky sound within, The Human Fear, their upcoming album, is not off to a great start. But then Franz Ferdinand is fondly remembered by those who entered the indie scene clubs and never evolved out of it when it was uncool to be there.  

Jolly indie rock with a bit of studio chatter to kick things off is not exactly audacious, but then it is Audacious. Sticking to their guns, Franz Ferdinand finds a sound which benefits from a seven-year studio break. Like Leonardo DiCaprio appearing and disappearing in two-year intervals, Franz Ferdinand has found joy in their consistent pop-up tours and new material made to bring their hits back into the spotlight. There is much to love about this Franz Ferdinand single. Plenty of opportune indie rock-oriented moments which clamour for the perceived glory days of the genre. But their look at the past goes further back than their existence and instead finds some grooves of the 1990s in its piano work and uplifting electric guitar.  

Its sudden end is a sign of greater trouble for The Human Fear as a whole. If they cannot bring one song to a suitable or at least interesting, endearing conclusion, then what will happen to the rest of it? Audacious is a back-peddling, over-the-shoulder guitar rock romp with its hands massaging the nostalgia spots on your brain. But break free from this comfort. The genre has moved on. If not moved on, then figured out how to manipulate listeners better than the usual draw of guitar meets percussion meets wispy, wondering vocals where what could have been could still be. No. Brush it off and be audacious in your musical choices. Audacious is never going to break from its title because to have this hint of a confident new sound, only to pull the rug out from under us, revealing a You Could Have it So Much Better-shaped scratch into the wooden panels, is tiresome. 

Bands defined by nostalgic tracks of the past have only themselves to blame. Take Me Out may be their biggest hit and will likely remain as such, but chasing the sound and failing to evolve from album to album in the vain hope of recapturing it, is a poor choice. Despicable, really, all the more because you can fall for it so easily on a first listen. Repeat explorations of what few interesting grooves there are to this song are where problems begin to show. A single which strives for nothing in particular and gets away with it because your eyes are on the road and your ears need a distraction from bleating car horns. Audacious is radio filler and yet tries to be more than this by chasing the sound of two decades ago. Franz Ferdinand can, and has, done better than this.