LONDON (AP) 鈥� Two decades ago, the Scottish rock band sent a jolt across the music world. They waltzed in stripped-shirts and quickly became global icons for their deliriously hooky songs, hitting a critical mass in the chant-along singles 鈥淭ake Me Out鈥� and 鈥淒o You Want To.鈥� A lot has changed in that time, but the band never wavered in their dedication to 2000s indie ebullience. Over the last few years there's been a bit of , but for Franz Ferdinand, it never went away.
On Friday, they will release "The Human Fear,'' their sixth studio album and the first in seven years, making the end of the longest break between full lengths in their career.
Frontman Alex Kapranos says the album tackles relationships forming and breaking down. 鈥淭he title is a clue to the scene,鈥� he teases. 鈥淏ut it wasn鈥檛 written to the theme, at least not consciously.鈥�
In an interview with The Associated Press in London, Kapranos and Franz Ferdinand bassist Bob Hardy discussed about 鈥淭he Human Fear,鈥� the resurgence of indie music and the band's love for and Responses have been edited for length and clarity.
AP: What is the story behind 鈥淭he Human Fear鈥�?
KAPRANOS: The last song that was written, the last lyrics that were written was (for) the song 鈥淗ooked.鈥� It starts off with the line, 鈥淚鈥檝e got the fear / I鈥檝e got the human fear.鈥� And I realize that so many of the songs had an underlying theme of fear to them. But not necessarily succumbing to fear, but more like overcoming fear.
鈥淭he Doctor鈥� is about the fear of leaving an institution, and 鈥淏ar Lonely鈥� is the fear of leaving a relationship. 鈥淣ight or Day鈥� is the fear of committing to a relationship. But fear is fascinating because fear is universal. We all experience fear. We all experience the same fears. But how we respond to it is individual. And that鈥檚 how we find who we are, our personalities. And overcoming fear feels good. That鈥檚 why we watch horror films or ride rollercoasters 鈥� because you overcome fear and then feel very alive for having done so.
AP: The latest single, 鈥淎udacious,鈥� deals with fear as well.
KAPRANOS: The song starts off addressing that feeling that we all have sometimes, which is, you know, you feel that your life is collapsing around about you for one reason or another. It could be a relationship that is disintegrating. Often, it'll go that things tend to happen to you (all) at once. The relationship starts going south as well as your professional life. And then you realize that the washing machine leaked and your basement鈥檚 flooded and just all that kind of annoying stuff. Your phone gets nicked or whatever. And it can be overwhelming. And you just, you have this sense of fear that, "Gosh, everything鈥檚 collapsing."
I guess I was feeling a little bit like that when I was writing the song for one reason or another. And I thought, 鈥淲hat am I going to do?鈥� ... I鈥檓 just going to do something astonishingly audacious. I鈥檓 going to go into it with an audacious attitude and get through it that sort of way. And don't blame anybody else for it as well. Like, own the responsibility of overcoming the fear myself.
AP: Has your writing process changed?
KAPRANOS: We鈥檙e not that will sit down and say, 鈥淩ight, we鈥檝e got two months to write 鈥� For me, you鈥檙e always writing, you鈥檙e always coming up with ideas. And so, on this album, there鈥檚 ideas that were written in the studio literally the day before it was sent off to be mastered. And there鈥檚 also ideas 鈥� I think the oldest idea is the bassline (of) one of the songs, which is from 1995.
I think the way my brain works is like if you imagine going into the office of a university鈥檚 eccentric professor that鈥檚 scattered with bits of paper. It's all kind of like catastrophic, organizational hell, but they know exactly where everything is. That鈥檚 what my brain is like with bits of ideas and bits of songs and stuff like that. I know where they are, and when I need to use them, they鈥檒l come out.
HARDY: And the show has become the reward for making records, to me. It all kind of focuses playing it live in front of an audience and seeing people react to it in the moment. When you release a record, you don鈥檛 see people listen to it at home. You know, the way you kind of get the reaction is these live shows.
AP: What do you think about the current resurgence of indie?
HARDY: It's never gone away.
KAPRANOS: There was a period in the late-2000s where there was point of saturation where, like, you turned on any mainstream radio show and you heard nothing but indie bands. And when it becomes that saturated, maybe the quality control goes down slightly. And then when that happens, there鈥檚 always a reaction to it. And I think over the last decade, there鈥檚 been a bit of, 鈥淩ight, okay, so we鈥檙e going to listen to like pure pop instead.鈥� And of course, there鈥檚 some brilliant stuff like Amazing. (is) incredible. But there鈥檚 a lot of stuff that鈥檚 maybe not quite premier tier as well. And I think there's been maybe a little bit of a reaction to that.
I think from our perspective, just, yeah, make the thing that you love and then you鈥檙e not really going to go wrong.
Sian Watson, The Associated Press
