The bass lines are more featured than the guitar or the synthesizer on a few tracks.  “What She Came For” bass line sounds like it is borrowed from Sly & The Family Stones “If You Want Me to Stay”, but the Stevie Wonder keyboard gives it a different feel (still groovy though).  True it starts out sounding like something from Rocky, the verse is dominated by the bass on “Can’t Stop Feeling”.  The keyboard melody is catchy and works well with the groovy drums.

Guitars are present, but they sound different than before.  The acoustic ballad “Katherine Kiss Me” is quite beautiful and features a sweet piano solo.  Alex Kapranos (lead singer/guitarist) describes a sense of wonder for love, but ultimately not really caring what the other sex (a female) thinks. They continue to build upon their sound most likely with the Fender Deluxe Telecaster dual humbucker guitar.  “Bite Hard” starts out beautifully with a piano and sounds a bit like an Edith Piaf ballad at first.  However, once the song kicks in you get a nice chugging guitar riff.  They sound more like a rock band than Franz Ferdinand on this particular track and they pull it off quite well.  “What She Came For” ending sounds like something off a Stooges album.

Overall, this album is probably the best thing they have put out.  It features their original dance like sound, but they are pushing their boundaries with experimenting with ballads, synthesizers, longer songs (“Lucid Dreams” is 7:56) and stranger sounds.  I would not be surprised if they turn out to be the next Radiohead and they come out with an all electronic album that’s good, but for now this will due (and we still have Radiohead).

Grade :  B+