Red Light Management

Franz Ferdinand

www.franzferdinand.com/

Bio

Forget everything you think you know about Franz Ferdinand. Always Ascending is nothing short of a rebirth. The album’s ten songs are a triumphant recasting of one of our favourite groups, bursting with fresh ideas and vigorous sonic experimentation.

“We wanted this to sound like nothing we made before,” said the band and after listening to the first moments of the title track it’s obvious that’s what they’ve accomplished.

There have been substitutions, but the team is playing stronger than ever. In case you missed the announcement last year, Nick McCarthy (guitar) left to raise his family and Julian Corrie, a much-loved figure in the Glasgow music scene, joined core members Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy and Paul Thomson.

With reclusive producer Philippe Zdar (Cassius, Phoenix, ‪Beastie Boys), FF have taken a knife to their old canvas, creating an album that is so foreign in its familiarity it could only be current.

“Philippe is someone we’d wanted to work with for a long time.” said Alex “Last time we spoke, he was recording the Beastie Boys. I asked Laurence (Bell, Domino boss) and Cerne (Cannning, manager/svengali) to put us in touch and they said ‘Oh, he’s a bit of an enigma. No-one can trace him. Maybe he’s in Ibiza. Maybe Paris. We don’t know.’ Then I remembered I still had his number, so I texted him and said ‘I’ve always thought we could make a truly great LP together’ and he replied straight back and said ‘Yes! Let’s do it!’”

“We loved working with Philippe. He understands that what is essential is the emotion: the emotion that inspired the song and the emotion that the song inspires in you on hearing it. It’s all that matters. Everything comes from that: the sound, performance, tempo, instrumentation, how far you stand from the mic… everything.”

The LP was mixed at Philippe’s Motorbass studio in Paris, recorded in a couple of weeks at RAK and written over the preceding year somewhere in the west of Scotland.

“We all lived in the one place together. Us and the dog. It’s remote and that’s what we needed. We weren’t just writing an LP. We were creating a band. A sound. A universe. We started from zero: no expectations. It was liberating. From zero, we created this new universe to inhabit: nebulous at first, gradually taking form, until it felt like it had always existed.”

Other characters appear in this story. Dino Bardot (the greatest rockstar Glasgow ever produced) has joined the line-up since they started touring again and Sam Potter, late of Late Of The Pier, hung out with the band in the early stages of the LP.

“Sam’s an inspiring guy. We had great conversations. He knows how to take an idea and break it so you can see the better idea hidden within it.”

“We talked about the purity and naivety our earliest psychedelic experiences: when you imagined what drugs might do to your mind, before there was an opportunity to let them. How the imagined experience is way more powerful than anything actually triggered by a drug could be. Wouldn’t it be glorious to make music that made you feel like that?”

When asked what influences shaped the record, Hardy says “I don’t think we need to mention any,” while Thomson exclaims “Can’t really think of any other than Tarka Daal and McEwans Export.” Kapranos does mention re-discovering Greek composer Yiannis Markopoulos’s interpretations of Cretan music on the Rizitika LP:

“Repetitive, trance-inducing, dynamic: my first extra-sensory experiences were from listening to this, before I could walk.”

“Listening to it again, I realized how it was always there. I don’t mean just in my period of experience, but for millennia. It’s ancient music you can trace back to the earliest of human experiences. We have always done this, but there is always a new way of making it. Markopoulos made it new in 1971. We made it new in 2017. The effect has always been the same. We are looking for something that allows us to ascend. To become lighter than our physical presence. To ascend from the emotion of every day. To ascend from what we understand. To ascend and know why we are ascending. To not know why we want to ascend. To be always ascending.”

Armed with this musical mission, the band put purpose to paper. Conceiving a songbook full of tightly scripted screeds and musical paradoxes, brought to vivid life through a confluence of the band’s gift for propulsive, melody-driven musicality and Zdar’s production dexterity.

“So many nights, I couldn’t sleep because there were too many ideas flooding each other. Kapranos recalls “I felt like a decapitated gorgon, growing two heads where there had been one. That’s why it was so great to work with Julian, Philippe and Sam. Each an extra head to the gorgon. An extra mind. An extra set of snakes spitting venom.”

These ambitious visions can be heard throughout Always Ascending: from the title track’s Penrose Stairs aural illusion constantly rising chord progression, to the “Trap Sabbath via Slackers” of ‘Huck and Jim’; the barely-glimpsed backstory that could have been from a William Trevor story in ‘Lois Lane’, to the Tehching Hsieh-inspired ‘Paper Cages’, the five to the floor odd-count dance beat of ‘Lazy Boy’, to the heartbreaking ‘Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow’.

For all its philosophical conceits, however, it is a visceral experience. It’s intended to hit you in the heart before the brain. These are the sounds of the Parisian night, the exhilaration of an Italian car racing down the autobahn; a feeling of euphoria so pure it could only exist on a knife’s edge, occasionally gliding into euphoric heartcreak.

They wanted this record to sound like no other you’ve heard, never mind any other Franz Ferdinand record. Here it is. Stick it on. Think “What the fuck is that… I LOVE it!”

It’s Always Ascending and it’s out on Friday the 9th of February.

 

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Contact

Management

Agency - North America

Agency - World Excluding North America

Tour Dates

Jul 07 2025
Pavillon de Grignan
Istres, France
Jul 09 2025
Zuiderparktheater
Den Haag, Netherlands
Jul 11 2025
Bospop
Weert, Netherlands
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Jul 12 2025
Festival Décibulles 2025
Neuve-église, France
Jul 13 2025
TivoliVredenburg
Utrecht, Netherlands
Jul 16 2025
Cooltural Fest 2025
Romano D'ezzelino, Italy
Jul 18 2025
Gurtenfestival 2025
Köniz, Switzerland
Jul 20 2025
Müveszetek Völgye 2025
Kapolcs, Hungary
Jul 25 2025
Tramlines 2025
Sheffield, United Kingdom
Jul 25 2025
Forest Festival 2025
Killimy, Ireland
Jul 27 2025
Hill Farm
Steventon, United Kingdom
Jul 27 2025
Truck Festival 2025
Steventon, United Kingdom
Aug 01 2025
Santander Music Festival 2025
Santander, Spain
Aug 03 2025
Pikehall
Ripley, United Kingdom
Aug 03 2025
Y NOT 2025
Derby, United Kingdom
Aug 06 2025
Boardmasters 2025
Newquay, United Kingdom
Aug 08 2025
Sonorama Ribera 2025
Aranda De Duero, Spain
Aug 13 2025
Galvanizers Yard
Glasgow, United Kingdom
Aug 13 2025
Paredes de Coura 2025
Paredes De Coura, Portugal
Aug 15 2025
Cap Roig Festival 2025 - Franz Ferdinand
Calella De Palafrugell, Spain
Aug 22 2025
Cooltural Fest 2025
Almería, Spain
Aug 24 2025
Festival du Roi Arthur 2025
Bréal-sous-montfort, France
Aug 26 2025
Sulky Rock 2025
Sant'antioco, Italy
Aug 28 2025
Villa Ca' Cornaro
Romano, Italy
Aug 29 2025
Villa Torlonia - Parco Poesia Pascoli
San Mauro Pascoli, Italy
Aug 30 2025
Auditorium Parco della Musica Ennio Morricone
Rome, Italy
Sep 20 2025
The Joy Theater
New Orleans, LA
Sep 21 2025
Shaky Knees 2025
Atlanta, GA
Sep 23 2025
The Ritz Ybor
Tampa, FL
Sep 24 2025
House of Blues Orlando
Lake Buena Vista, FL
Sep 26 2025
The National
Richmond, VA
Sep 27 2025
Oceans Calling 2025
Ocean City, MD
Sep 29 2025
Saint Andrew's Hall
Detroit, MI
Sep 30 2025
Roxian Theatre
Mckees Rocks, PA
Oct 01 2025
Bogart's
Cincinnati, OH
Oct 03 2025
The Vogue
Indianapolis, IN
Oct 04 2025
The Sylvee
Madison, WI
Oct 06 2025
Val Air Ballroom
West Des Moines, IA
Oct 07 2025
The Admiral Theater
Omaha, NE
Oct 09 2025
Minglewood Hall
Memphis, TN
Oct 10 2025
Cannery Hall
Nashville, TN
Oct 11 2025
Mercury Ballroom
Louisville, KY
Nov 14 2025
Corona Capital 2025
México, Mexico
Nov 26 2025
Red Hill Auditorium
Red Hill, Australia
Nov 28 2025
Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne
South Yarra, Australia
Nov 29 2025
Riverstage Brisbane
Brisbane, Australia
Dec 02 2025
Anita's Theatre Thirroul
Thirroul, Australia
Dec 03 2025
Forecourt - Sydney Opera House
Sydney, Australia
Dec 09 2025
なんばHatch
大阪市, 日本
Dec 11 2025
東京ガーデンシアター
江東区, 日本
Dec 13 2025
Coca-Cola Arena
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Feb 24 2026
LiveHouse
Dundee, United Kingdom
Feb 25 2026
O2 Academy Leeds
Leeds, United Kingdom
Feb 27 2026
Manchester Academy
Manchester, United Kingdom
Feb 28 2026
NX Newcastle
Newcastle Upon Tyne, United Kingdom
Mar 02 2026
Rock City
Nottingham, United Kingdom
Mar 03 2026
UEA LCR Norwich
Norwich, United Kingdom
Mar 04 2026
Brighton Dome
The City Of Brighton And Hove, United Kingdom
Mar 06 2026
O2 Institute Birmingham
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Mar 07 2026
Bristol Beacon
Bristol, United Kingdom
Mar 08 2026
The Great Hall - Cardiff University Students' Union
Cardiff, United Kingdom
Mar 10 2026
Guildhall Studio
Portsmouth, United Kingdom
Mar 11 2026
O2 Academy Brixton
London, United Kingdom
Mar 29 2026
Raiffeisen Halle im Gasometer
Vienna, Austria
Mar 31 2026
Zenith
Munich, Germany
Apr 01 2026
Tempodrom
Berlin, Germany
Apr 03 2026
Forest National
Bruxelles, Belgium
Apr 04 2026
Palladium Köln
Köln, Germany
Apr 08 2026
Poppodium 013
Tilburg, Netherlands
Apr 10 2026
Rockhal
Esch-sur-alzette, Luxembourg
Apr 11 2026
Jahrhunderthalle
Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

News

11/28/2017

FRANZ FERDINAND RETURN WITH NEW SINGLE ‘ALWAYS ASCENDING’ + ANNOUNCE NEW ALBUM TO BE RELEASED 09 FEBRUARY 2018 BAND TO TOUR UK, EUROPE, JAPAN + NORTH AMERICA IN 2018, MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED

‘Always Ascending’ added to A list at BBC 6 music; C list at Radio 2 (a first for the band!); high rotation at Triple J and Double J in Australia;…

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10/14/2016

FRANZ FERDINAND release new track ‘Demagogue’

Franz Ferdinand release their first new music - a track called "Demagogue" -  in over three years, inspired by one of the US Presidential candidates. Artwork is by Shepard Fairey. Watch: https://youtu.be/niJtpcgtUQs

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05/06/2015

Franz Ferdinand & Sparks TV Debut, Headlining On Later With Jools Holland

London, UK - (May 6, 2015) - FFS performed "Police Encounters" and current single "Johnny Delusional" on Later with Jools Holland last night. Police Encounters https://vimeo.com/127041734 Johnny Delusional https://vimeo.com/127041735 Tune…

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