''Always Ascending'' is the fifth studio album by Scottish

indie rock Indie rock is a Music subgenre, subgenre of rock music that originated in the United Kingdom, United States and New Zealand in the early to mid-1980s. Although the term was originally used to describe rock music released through independent reco ...

band Franz Ferdinand. It was released on 9 February 2018 through the

Domino Recording Company Domino Recording Company, or simply Domino, is a British independent record label based in London. There is also a wing of the label based in Brooklyn, New York that handles releases in the United States, as well as a German division called ...

. It is the band's first non-collaborative album in over four years, following '' Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action'' (2013). It is also their first album to feature new member Julian Corrie, who joined shortly after the departure of

Nick McCarthy Nicholas John McCarthy (born 13 December 1974) is an English-German musician. His main focus is on songwriting and song production. He is also a guitarist, singer and keyboard player. McCarthy was a founding member of the Glasgow-based band Fr ...

, and their last to feature drummer

Paul Thomson Paul Robert Thomson (born 15 September 1976) is a Scottish musician who was the drummer for the Glasgow-based band Franz Ferdinand from their formation in 2002 until October 2021. Biography Thomson has always been interested in music, able ...

. The album received generally positive reviews from critics. It peaked at number three in Scotland and number six in the UK. Four singles were released from the album: " Always Ascending", " Feel the Love Go", "Lazy Boy" and an alternative version of "Glimpse of Love". Several tracks from the album are featured during scenes or the

closing credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at th ...

of various episodes of the television show ''Loudermilk''.

Background and recording

Following the release of '' Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action'', the band's fourth studio album, in August 2013, the band collaborated with American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band Sparks under the name FFS. They released a self-titled album in July 2015 and briefly toured. In July 2016, it was announced that

, one of the band's founding members, was taking a break from the band to spend more time with family and focusing on side projects. It was announced in May 2017 that two new members had joined the band; Dino Bardot, former guitarist for Scottish indie rock band

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, and music producer Julian Corrie. Corrie joined the band for the recording sessions of the album, while Bardot joined after recording was completed. The band recorded the album at Motorbass Studios in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

and

RAK Studios RAK Studios is a recording studio complex, with residential facilities, used by Rak Records, and located near Regent's Park in central London, England. It was founded in 1976 by English record producer Mickie Most. History The RAK complex res ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. They previously used RAK Studios to record ''FFS'' in late 2014. For ''Always Ascending'', they worked alongside

Philippe Zdar Cassius was a French musical duo active from 1988 to 2019 and consisting of producers Philippe Cerboneschi and Hubert Blanc-Francard, better known as Zdar and Boombass (or sometimes Philippe Zdar and Hubert Boombass). Under its different incar ...

, one-half of French

synthpop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s ...

duo Cassius and frequent collaborator with French

indie pop Indie pop (also typeset as indie-pop or indiepop) is a music genre and subculture that combines guitar pop with a DIY ethic in opposition to the style and tone of mainstream pop music. It originated from British post-punk in the late 1970s and s ...

band Phoenix, on the album.

Composition

The music of ''Always Ascending'' has been described as

dance-punk Dance-punk (also known as disco-punk) is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements.Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984. Simon Reynolds.Faber an ...

, and new wave, all genres that the band have been previously associated with.

Promotion and release

Prior to the announcement of the album, the band shared a short snippet of the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

on social media platforms on 23 October 2017. On 25 October, the band released the title track as the album's lead single. Alongside the release was the reveal of the album's title, artwork, and track listing. They also released dates for a world tour, starting in October 2017 and ending in May 2018. A music video for the title track, directed by AB/CD/CD, was released on 4 December. On 8 January 2018, " Feel the Love Go" was premiered on

Zane Lowe Alexander Zane Reed Lowe (born 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter. After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence through pr ...

's radio show on

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. A music video was also released on the same day and made exclusive to the

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service. The video was directed by

Diane Martel Diane Martel (also known as Bucky Chrome and Diamond Martel) is an American music video director and choreographer. As a music video director, she has worked with Beyonce, Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera, Sting and Jennifer Lopez. One of her ...

, who had previously directed the band's music videos for "

Do You Want To "Do You Want To" is the lead single from Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand's second studio album, '' You Could Have It So Much Better'' (2005). It was released 19 September 2005 and charted at number four on the UK Singles Chart. In the Un ...

" and "

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". On 25 January, "Lazy Boy" was released as a single. The album was released on physical and digital formats on 9 February 2018 by the

. It was made available on 12"

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

, CD, and a limited edition cassette. A bundle was also made available which included a 180 gram blue and white marble-colored vinyl and other special merchandise items, limited to 1,500 copies. The Japanese CD edition of the album was released through

Hostess Entertainment , DBA Unlimited, is a Japanese independent music company that represents Western alternative artists and labels in Japan, such as the Beggars Group (4AD/ XL/Matador/ Rough Trade), Domino Records, V2 Records, Brassland, Virgin Music Label & Art ...

and featured the band's non-album single "Demagogue" (2016) from ''

30 Days, 30 Songs 1,000 Days, 1,000 Songs (originally called 30 Days, 30 Songs, then 30 Days, 50 Songs) is a musical project launched on October 10, 2016, by Dave Eggers which was originally supposed to release one song per day from then until November 8, 2016, whi ...

'' as a bonus track.

Critical reception

''Always Ascending'' received generally positive reviews from critics. On

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site

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, the album holds an average critic score of 72/100, based on 26 reviews. At the online review aggregator AnyDecentMusic?, the album received an average critic score of 6.7/10, based on 31 reviews.

Track listing

Personnel

All personnel adapted from liner notes. Franz Ferdinand *

Alex Kapranos Alexander Paul Kapranos (born 20 March 1972) is a Scottish musician. He is the lead singer and lead guitarist of Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand. He has also been a part of the supergroups FFS and BNQT. Early life Alexander Paul Kapranos ...

* Bob Hardy *

* Julian Corrie Additional musicians *

Terry Edwards Terry Edwards (born 10 August 1960) is an English musician who plays trumpet, flugelhorn, saxophones, guitar and keyboards. Biography Edwards gained a degree in music from the University of East Anglia in 1982, where he was also a founding mem ...

– saxophone Technical personnel *Mike Horner – additional production *Pierre Juarez – additional production *Mike Marsh – mastering *Sam Potter – extra contribution *Antoine Poyeton – assistant at Motorbass Studios *Will Purton – assistant at RAK Studios *

– production, mixing Other personnel *Melissa Appleton – Infinity Mirror construction *Edwin Burdis – coordination *Cerne Canning – management *Matthew Cooper – design *Sylvan Deleu – photography *David Edwards – band collage photos *Franz Ferdinand – design *Alexis Anne Mackenzie – cover art, band collages *Nicola Wright – assistant manager

Charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2018 albums Franz Ferdinand (band) albums Domino Recording Company albums New wave albums by Scottish artists