"Always Ascending" is the fifth studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. It was released on 9 February 2018 through the Domino Recording Company. It is the band's first non-collaborative album in over four years, following Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (2013). It is also their first album to feature new member Julian Corrie, who joined shortly after the departure of Nick McCarthy. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". "Always Ascending" is the fifth studio album by Scottish indie rock band Franz Ferdinand. It was released on 9 February 2018 through the Domino Recording Company. It is the band's first non-collaborative album in over four years, following Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (2013). It is also their first album to feature new member Julian Corrie, who joined shortly after the departure of Nick McCarthy. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 15 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". false 2023-07-15 11:21:21 Always Ascending 8 2018 2018-02-09 2018-02-09 40 Alternative Rock Electronic Indie Rock Pop Rock Rock 111778 2294859 06281055-5569-4f92-b1b3-39e614b9ae19 aa7a2827-f74b-473c-bd79-03d065835cf7 a0ef4495-f844-4d32-956a-c46a00a409be Franz Ferdinand AlbumArtist Franz Ferdinand Artist Franz Ferdinand Franz Ferdinand 1 Always Ascending 05:21 2 Lazy Boy 02:59 3 Paper Cages 03:40 4 Finally 03:09 5 The Academy Award 04:14 6 Lois Lane 03:34 7 Huck and Jim 03:35 8 Glimpse of Love 03:12 9 Feel the Love Go 04:46 10 Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow 05:18 Franz Ferdinand are a Scottish rock band formed in Glasgow in 2002. The band's original line-up was composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals, lead guitar, keyboards), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards, vocals), Bob Hardy (bass guitar, percussion) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). Julian Corrie (keyboards, lead guitar, backing vocals) and Dino Bardot (rhythm guitar, backing vocals) joined the band in 2017 after McCarthy left during the previous year, and Audrey Tait (drums, percussion) joined the band after Thomson left in 2021. The band is one of the more popular post-punk revival bands, garnering multiple UK top 20 hits. They have been nominated for several Grammy Awards and have received two Brit Awards—winning one for Best British Group—as well as one NME Award. The band's first single, "Darts of Pleasure", just missed out on the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number 44. Their second single, "Take Me Out", proved their big commercial breakthrough, peaking at number three. "Take Me Out" charted in several other countries and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal; it became the band's signature song. Their self-titled debut studio album won the 2004 Mercury Prize and earned a Grammy nomination for Best Alternative Album. In 2005, the band released their second studio album, You Could Have It So Much Better, produced by Rich Costey. It peaked within the top-ten in multiple countries and earned Grammy-nominations for Best Alternative Album and for one of the singles, "Do You Want To". The band's third studio album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, was released in January 2009; by then the band had shifted from a post-punk-focused sound to a more dance-oriented sound. A remix album of Tonight, titled Blood, was released in July 2009. Four years after the release of Tonight, the band released their fourth studio album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, in August 2013. In 2015, Franz Ferdinand and American rock band Sparks formed the supergroup FFS and released a one-off self-titled album in June 2015. Following the departure of McCarthy, the band released their fifth studio album, Always Ascending, in February 2018.