THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Produced with Mark Ralph, who previously worked with Franz Ferdinand on their 2013 album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, The Human Fear showcases the band at their most immediate, upbeat and life-affirming, unashamedly going for the jugular in classic Franz style. Recorded at AYR studios in Scotland, the 11 songs all allude to some deep-set human fears and how overcoming and accepting these fears drives and defines our lives.
“Making this record was one of the most life-affirming experiences I’ve had, but it’s called The Human Fear,” frontman Alex Kapranos explains. “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 video for first single Audacious was directed by long-time collaborator Andy Knowles and filmed at Glasgow’s Barrowland, over the years the scene of many a celebratory ‘homecoming’ gig for the band. The song, Kapranos says, is “about having an audacious response when you feel the fabric of existence come undone around you. Being bold, contrary. Peering over the edge into the eternity of non-existence and saying Aye! Fuck it! Not today thank you!”
Director Andy Knowles adds: “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 sombre moments of life with an explosion of fun when you look at things through an audacious lens.”
Ever since their beginnings, throwing illegal parties in condemned buildings, Franz Ferdinand have been defined by a fresh, unfading, forward-facing outlook, a transgressive art-school perspective, but with a love of a big song. The Human Fear undoubtedly continues in this tradition; distinct yet new, musically, and creatively it’s a record eager to push forward. The songs were nearly all written before they hit the studio, where they were quickly captured — many were recorded live with the band in the room and include the original vocal takes. The first studio album to feature members Audrey Tait and Dino Bardot, the record also sees Julian Corrie step forward to collaborate with Kapranos and Bob Hardy on songwriting and creative duties.
No surprise from a band whose aesthetic and style are almost as important as their sound, the cover artwork was inspired by Hungarian artist Dóra Maurer’s self-portrait 7 Twists. Maurer’s work appealed because it achieves exactly what the band want from their music: A striking immediacy that is impossible to ignore, but with a depth and vulnerability that bear many returns and satisfactory repetition.
Maybe this is a set of songs about fear, or maybe this is a set of bangers from an era-defining band continuing their unquestionably living legacy. Is that something to be afraid of?”
