The ascent of Franz Ferdinand

When Nick McCarthy announced his departure from pop behemoths Franz Ferdinand, fans must have feared the worst. The tight-knit Glasgow-formed foursome had been a unit for 15 years, after all. However, as lead singer Alex Kapranos says, splitting up wasn’t an option.

“We never thought of winding it up,” confides the singer. “Of course the three of us all met up to see how we all felt, but it was pretty obvious that we were probably more into it than we’d ever been.”

The band had already been through a period of change, of course, with various solo projects in and out of music, and most famously, the quartet’s collaboration with 70s pop icons Sparks as FFS. However, Alex dismisses the likelihood of another collaboration with the Mael brothers.

“What I loved about the FFS LP was how much of a surprise it was. Nobody was expecting it. Not even Domino. It doesn’t work the same way when you come back and go “SURPRISE... again...”

New album Always Ascending is reassuringly Franz, but also different, with the band’s new signings signifying a change in sound, if not songwriting (while producer Philippe Zdar has brought a new approach given his background in hiphop and electronica.

“With this record, it feels like the beginning of a new decade,” Alex agrees. “It felt like the band’s first decade was neatly bookended by ‘Right Thoughts’ - it seemed to sum up what we’d done, while (that album’s final s