Franz experiment

Scottish rockers Franz Ferdinand lift the lid on their brand new album

13 January 2009 - As they gear up for their third release on 26 January, frontman Alex Kapranos describes it as “a primal album” with a live sound.

The band previously described Tonight: Franz Ferdinand as dance floor orientated.

Speaking about his hopes for the record, the singer said: “I want there to be life in it, I want there to be joy in the music.

“I want the adrenaline to come squirting through your bloodstream when you listen to this record and yeah, it is a dance floor record, it’s supposed to move you physically.”

He also said the night time theme derives from their experiences: “The most intense emotional moments of our lives, my life anyway, tend to happen at night.”

As for what to expect sonically, the singer explained: “We used a lot more electronic gear on this record but we tried to play it live as a band. The whole process was keeping it as a live performance.”

"I want the adrenaline to come squirting through your bloodstream when you listen to this record."
Alex Kapranos

It’s been completed with producer Dan Carey, who has worked with the likes of Hot Chip, Kylie Minogue and Zero 7’s Sia.

“He is like a kid,” Kapranos said, describing Carey. “The metaphor I think of is the brainy kid at school that wants to break into the science lab to blow the building up.

“We just wanted to free it up and experiment a lot and he’s the best experimenter.”

Their recording den

Speaking about the studio location for the recording of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the band said: “The building was an old town hall on the south side of Glasgow which has been empty for 20 years.

“It’s kind of like having your own den, being able to do what you wanna do. We’ve got all our instruments here.”

They wanted to lay down the album somewhere that would prompt them to experiment with new sounds - Kapranos continued: “Choosing to come to a place like this was to deliberately take ourselves out of the comfort of a studio.

“Here was a raw building that wasn’t designed to be used for recording, and we had to adapt and improvise and see what we could come up with.”

Describing the varying rooms in the building, Kapranos explained: “This room here is quite dead, with curtains and carpets to give it that close sound that is really good for tight rhythmic stuff.

“Then we’d go to the big hall for reverberant sounds and downstairs, there’s a cellar with brick walls and lots of junk and metal around it, which sounds good for full on rock ‘n’ roll.”
 
See behind the recording process in a filmed interview with Franz Ferdinand, which you can watch here.

Georgie Rogers