Album Review: Franz Ferdinand - 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions' | theMusic.com.au | Australian music news, gig guide, music reviews

Franz Ferdinand are right at the front of the indie rock scene. Having spawned multiple gold and platinum-selling albums, often debuting in the top 10 charts all around the world, and even managing to pull headline slots at festivals all over (including Australia's own Harvest Festival), the band's follow up to 2009's album 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand,' entitled 'Right Thoughts, Right Word, Right Actions,' obviously has a fair bit of hype around it. Thus, it has some pretty high expectations to meet from the group's fanbase.

Kicking straight into things with title track 'Right Words,' there is a very obvious funk influence, with the song held together very well by a tight rhythmic section, featuring Paul Thompson on drums, and Bob Hardy on bass. There are some very prominent and fun rhythms in the first half of the album, giving it a really laid back, easy going feel, and making it effortless to enjoy whether simply as background music or something to dance along to.

There are also some tracks that sound like modern indie rock, with a throwback to some of the works of bands like The Beatles, both lyrically and musically, in tracks like 'Brief Encounters' and 'Fresh Strawberries', which features vocal harmonies that are very reminiscent of some of the legendary English rock and roll bands music. The latter of the two containing seemingly nonsensical lyrics that bear a resemblance in their attitude to tracks like 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.'

All of this said, a lot of the songs seem to lack their own individual personality. As an album, 'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions' stands pretty strong, but none of the tracks really have the strength to stand on their own. It's not necessarily a bad thing, it just means that if you listen to any of the songs in any format aside from playing it beginning to end, it might fall slightly short.

'Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Actions' is a pretty strong release, with Franz Ferdinand putting their own twist on some pretty fantastic influences. The final result of which is, at times, quite fun and enjoyable. However, this is definitely one of those albums that is going lose a lot of steam when you listen to the tracks on their own rather than in the context given.