Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear

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. 

A concept album that grapples with myriad manifestations of the titular emotion, it’s fabulously sonically varied; over the course of 35 thrilling minutes, Alex leads the group through a searing kaleidoscope of styles. ‘Audacious’, ‘Build It Up’ and ‘Night or Day’ imbue the angular strut of old with new energy and urgency, but elsewhere, new ground is broken with abandon; the glorious disco stomp of ‘Hooked’ might be the standout, but there’s also ebullient ‘80s synthpop (‘The Doctor’ ‘Bar Lonely’), infectious groove (‘Everydaydreamer’, ‘Tell Me I Should Stay’) and a genuine curveball in the shape of ‘Black Eyelashes’, where Kapranos takes influence from Los Bitchos, with whom he’s collaborated. If there’s a throughline to the album, it’s that their ‘Hits to the Head’ tour appears to have sharply reminded the band of the evergreen power of the massive chorus; there are plenty here. Alex Kapranos is on typically droll, playful lyrical form, too, grounding the record in Franz tradition, but the sound of ‘The Human Fear’ suggests a band still brimming with ambition.