Franz Ferdinand experiments with new sound

    The third album by Franz Ferdinand, "Tonight" (2009), displays the band's adventurous spirit and penchant for danceable rock and underground raves, Its experimentation with new genres, however, may be a turn-off for fans looking for more of the same.
    "Tonight" is an album about identity as in James Joyce's "Ulysses" (1922) and gender through Calypso of Homer's "The Odyssey." It combines Franz Ferdinand's old style with electronic experimentation, as the band risks alienating all but the most ardent fans of Franz Ferdinand's previous work, lovers of electronic music and English majors.    Despite its break from the band's traditional style, "Tonight" is arguably the best work Franz Ferdinand has produced to date. Its problem, however, comes from the band's heavy reliance on its newfound influences, namely electronica and pop. The play between the band's old and new sounds varies from song to song, but overall, it constitutes a seismic shift.
    Most tracks resemble older songs in a sense, but have taken on a new form that sounds as if they have been melted down and given synthesizer parts. "Ulysses," the album's first track, is a catchy piece that lets Alex Kapranos's gorgeous voice flow through electronic-based rock. The feeling that the funky Franz Ferdinand has remade itself into something exciting with music as good as "Ulysses" continues for the first few tracks.
    Two standout songs in the mix are "Bite Hard" and "Lucid Dreams." "Bite Hard" is the perfect opportunity for Franz Ferdinand to mesh its new experimentation with its rock background. With upbeat guitar and organ-like synthesizers, this catchy song does not exit the listener's head easily. Because it manages to keep the band's old, fun rock style while trying out new things, "Bite Hard" is easily the best song on the album.
    "Lucid Dreams" takes the experimentation one step further. Of the two versions, the original version from the "Lucid Dreams" (2008) single is the most like a straightforward Franz Ferdinand song: easily danceable rock. The new version modifies this with a longer, electronic version of the song. Though it is far more experimental, this risk-taking leaves it with an even richer sound than the original.
    Some tracks on ‘Tonight' bring the band's confidence in its experimentation into question. The song "Twilight Omens" tries to form a coherent sound, but none of its elements manage to combine successfully, creating a completely random and off-putting noise. When Franz Ferdinand succeeds on this album, the band sounds as good, if not better, than its previous work, but when it fails, it fails hard.
    There are extra songs included on the deluxe version of the album that hint at the direction that the band may go in the future. Keeping with its modus operandi of creating tracks that people can dance to, the band made several techno remixes of its songs. These final tracks are, in fact, just as fabulous as the rest of Franz Ferdinand's music. They all manage to sound unique and interesting, remixing the songs in original, highly danceable ways. "Katherine Hit Me," mirroring the previous song "Katherine Kiss Me," has a perfectly constructed, incredibly creepy tone that sounds terrific.
    "Tonight" has many songs so good that they compel listeners to dance, but the band's radically different direction will ultimately lead all but the most dedicated fans to, like Gavrilo Princip, assassinate the band from their music collections.