If you've ever had the misfortune of reading my early fiction, you've probably figured out that I have certain quirks, both in terms of style and plot. I'm honestly not too ashamed of this; most writers have quirks, it's just that once you reach a certain level of success they start calling them 'marks of your distinct voice'. Certain things just click with you, and end up sticking in your brain far longer than anyone expects. Just by way of example, I have always been fascinated by the story of the hero Ulysses, better known as the Greek epic The Odyssey. It's an idea that many people keep coming back to, and each iteration fascinates me - James Joyce's doorstopper novel, the Coen's O Brother Where Art Thou, even Symphony X's 23-minute epic metal track. There's just something about the core concept, built around this deep-seated longing to return home, that speaks to me on a deep, emotional level. It should come as no surprise, then, that Franz Ferdinand's 2009 album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, is in my mind the band's single greatest achievement.
The album, as alluded to by the title track, "Ulysses", is a very loose concept album, built around the story of a single night of debauchery and drug use as experienced by a young man. He's lost in the vast ocean of the nightlife; underground dance clubs, the siren song of pretty girls, and a deep-seated longing to just survive and make it home by morning. It's something, frankly, that seems like it was ripped directly from the center of my brain, and it fills me with a complicated combination of awe and jealousy. The album, and this song in particular - 'Bite Hard' - hits a sweet spot, exploring this brilliant intersection of old, mythic religion, dance club rock n' roll, frantically dangerous drug use, and plain old emotionally vulnerable love. It strips away the layers of culture we've built up around these concepts, and exposes their primal similarities. But what's more, it does it while remaining profoundly good listening.
And that can't be understated: this album rocks. I honestly think it was the first time Franz Ferdinand really hit their stride as song writers. They were born in what's tentatively being called the 'Post-Punk' revival - that odd period in the early 2000s dominated by the likes of The Killers, The White Stripes, and The Strokes. Franz had a number of hits during this period, but they were generally sporadic singles scattered across uneven albums. Tonight, however, is a complete entity - it is thoroughly excellent from start to finish. Part of that is that they finally embraced their dance-rock roots - in addition to being about a wild night on the town, the album SOUNDS like a wild night on the town, all heavy drumbeats and synth-heavy grooves.
That house-party-soundtrack feel, in my opinion, is the last piece of the puzzle. I can sit here and talk about deep, religious themes, pontificate on the importance of love and the primal desire for basic human contact; all these things are profoundly important and interesting. But at the end of the day? They're quite boring as well. That intersection I was discussing before, religion meets rock meets drugs meets love - it's missing a piece. The last thing Franz Ferdinand brings to the table is style. It's often considered a dirty word, colored with a pervading sense of shallowness, but it's every bit as important as the rest. Without it, Tonight would be obtuse at best, the stuff of arthouse film and deliberately off-putting music. And while there's certainly a place for that, it does not recognize a fundamental truth: art is a commercial medium. Your message can be brilliant, but if no one wants to listen you're simply the loudest voice in an empty room.
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