With all this talk lately of the return of indie sleaze, let’s not forget the good guys of the aughts, the ones who took us out and made us dance with Michael and thoughtfully delivered all the right thoughts, right words, and right action. Come on down, Franz Ferdinand. We’ve missed ya.
The Scottish indie luminaries from the world’s last party decade are back today (September 11) with a theatrical new single called “Audacious,” and its got a nice little ’70s glam rock glow to it. The feel-good joint will be featured on the band’s forthcoming studio album, The Human Fear, out January 10 via Domino.
“Making this record was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve had, but it’s called The Human Fear,” says Alex Kapranos. “Fear reminds you that you’re alive. I think we all are addicted in some way to the buzz it can give us. How we respond to it shows how we are human. So here’s a bunch of songs searching for the thrill of being human via fears. Not that you’d necessarily notice on first listen.”
The arrival of “Audacious” comes with a video directed by long-time Franz collaborator Andy Knowles and filmed at Barrowlands in Glasgow. Knowles says this about the video: “After listening to ‘Audacious’ for the first time it immediately felt like a song which needed a celebration of a video. I wanted to build on the jocular approach we took for ‘Curious’ in 2022, contrasting some of the more somber moments of life with an explosion of fun when you look at things through an ‘audacious’ lens.”
View it below.