(Muso's Guide, April 11, 2009)
Single review
A handsome bunch of boys making the kind of jagged artpop that fills indie disco floors and makes all the girls swoon, Franz Ferdinand are the H. G. Wells of the British music world. From Alex Kapranos’ effortless style to cheekbones as angular as their riffs, they are a case in point of recycling in music.
After all, artrock was new thirty years ago - but here it is again, skillfully repackaged and as fresh as ever. In fact, like Kapranos himself, Franz’s sound could easily pass for ten years younger. As a perfect example, the singalong pop chorus of ‘No You Girls’ is massively ageless, and radio friendly from the off.
Kapranos’s distinctive Scottish burr takes on a more overt ‘Matinée’-style, drawling a disaffected “Kiss me/Flick your cigarette then kiss me”, smacking of a disaffected youth, before pounding out the flawless chorus, “No you girls never know/How you make a boy feel”.
There’s something special at work in ‘No You Girls’, as there is so often in Franz’s singles - not least because it’s funny and smart, with a nice line in arched eyebrows and barely-concealed lust. As the standout track on Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, it’s a must-download for any fan, but does little to dispel the notion that Franz are visitors from musical history.
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