Review: Franz Ferdinand - The Human Fear

The Human Fear is a perfectly adequate album that you’ll wish you didn’t have to wait seven years to hear.

It’s been seven long years since Franz Ferdinand gave us Always Ascending, an album that saw the Scottish indie rockers take a cautious step into electronic music after adding synthesizer player Julian Corrie to their lineup. This album, with its handful of synthpop tracks, wasn’t so much a reinvention as it was a demonstration that the band wasn’t stuck in the post-punk revival sounds of the 2000s. That said, it still leaned heavily into their rock roots, with a few unexpected twists.

Coincidentally, Franz Ferdinand’s sixth album The Human Fear can be summarized with almost the exact same language. This isn’t bad on its own, but its similarity to Always Ascending coupled with a seven-year wait makes it a somewhat underwhelming release.

The post-punk tracks on The Human Fear can mostly be summarized as, “yep, this is indeed a Franz Ferdinand album.” The opening track “Audacious” is, ironically, fairly tame, with a stadium rock feel to its chorus. That said, it at least starts the album on a defiant tone, and a line like “don’t stop feeling audacious, there’s no one to save us, so just carry on” somewhat preempts curmudgeonly critics. Later, “Build It Up” has some of the band’s trademark swagger, and “Cats” has a good melody, but neither exceeds anything the band has released before. The band set a fairly high bar for making ear-catching rock grooves during their first three albums, so these songs on The Human Fear are kind of just “there.”

Instead, it’s the electronic elements on The Human Fear that carry more of the album’s “wow” factor. While Always Ascending scattered its synth-heavy tracks throughout, they’re somewhat concentrated in a three-track run in The Human Fear’s first half. “Everydaydreamer” eases you into electronica as an understated new-wave style song a la Depeche Mode, while its successor “The Doctor” kicks things off with a straight-up synthpop riff. Its verses have the classic Franz Ferdinand stomping drums and jangle pop guitar riffs, and it’s the most fun, upbeat track on The Human Fear. This run finishes with “Hooked, a straight-up EDM track with a dark, ominous tone that I’m sure is going to appall some fans. It admittedly grew on me quite a bit after my initial reaction of “what the hell is this?,” and I now consider it an album highlight.

Beyond the synthpop and post-punk, there are a few tracks on The Human Fear that explore new dimensions to Franz Ferdinand’s sound in surprising ways. On the subtler side, “Tell Me Should I Stay” starts out with a piano piece, and shows off the band’s softer side like “The Academy Award” did on Always Ascending. “Night or Day” has a good synthesizer line, but it’s the raw quality of singer Alex Kapranos’ voice on this song that really helps it stick out. Then there’s “Black Eyelashes,” which is the most unique song that Franz Ferdiand have ever attempted. The track is meant to emulate a type of Greek folk music called “remebetiko,” and is what the band’s half-Greek singer Kapranos says “is me attempting to find my Greek identity and failing, and kind of addressing the situation.” It’s a very interesting song, if nothing else to hear Kapranos namedrop so many Greek words and even sing a few bars in the language. That said, it’s also hard to imagine it as anything other than a one-off, so it feels like a bit of a gimmick.

In an alternate universe where The Human Fear and Always Ascending switched places, I think the former would feel more impressive in its ambition. Instead, The Human Fear is a perfectly adequate album that you’ll wish you didn’t have to wait seven years to hear. While it certainly has its fair share of intriguing moments, namely “Hooked” and “Black Eyelashes,” the band mostly stays in its comfort zone here.