Franz Ferdinand

Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (Domino)

“We will soon be rotten,” sings Alex Kapranos in a telling lyric from “Fresh Strawberries,” the fifth track into Franz Ferdinand’s fourth LP. “We will all be forgotten/half remembered rumors of the old.” Nine years back, this Scottish quartet was bright and young and rightly celebrated for having turned the early Eighties art-clang of Gang of Four into pop hits on brilliant tunes like “Take Me Out.” Right Thoughts took three years, and “Bullet” and “Love Illumination” display all the angular guitars, mannered vocals, and European funk rhythms that hallmark Franz Ferdinand. Right Thoughts sounds good. Yet the satisfaction appears sonic alone: Not a song sticks. It’s sheer style that carries this disc, albeit one that sounds great. (4pm, Samsung Galaxy stage)

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This article appears in October 4 • 2013.

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Tim Stegall contributed to The Austin Chronicle 1991-1995, and was a staff writer 1995-1997. He returned as a contributor in 2013. He has also freelanced for publications ranging from Flipside to Alternative Press to Guitar World. He plays punk rock guitar and sings in the Hormones.