Franz Ferdinand have streamed a new track from upcoming album Always Ascending, their first LP in five years. You can listen to “Lazy Boy” above, which follows the launch of the title track in November.

Frontman Alex Kapranos recently said the band had particular sonic targets in mind when they started recording the follow-up to 2013’s Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action. “In terms of ‘naturalistic,' it’s not retrogressive but it’s about trying to make something that feels like it’s being played by humans,” he commented. “It’s very tempting in the studio to digitally tidy everything up – Photoshopping your music. Everything was played and nothing is programmed. It still has to be raw and have that rock n’ roll side to it.”

He also discussed their narrative aim of creating characters with “emotional depth” in the lyrics, saying: “We would write and create characters the way that you would if you were a short story writer – you’d have color and backstory, that would only be hinted at in the song. That was a cool way to do it. … [W]hen you’re writing a rock ’n’ roll song, there’s always this presumption that they have to always be from personal experience to have veritas. We wanted to buck that and create characters that were even more believable and vivid than real life experience can be.”

Always Ascending will be released on Feb. 9. Franz Ferdinand commence a world tour on Feb. 8, with North American dates from Apr. 8 to May 17.

Franz Ferdinand, ’Always Ascending' Track Listing

"Always Ascending"
"Lazy Boy"
"Paper Cages"
"Finally"
"The Academy Award"
"Lois Lane"
"Huck and Jim"
"Glimpse of Love"
"Feel the Love Go"
"Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow"


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