Franz Ferdinand – Ulysses
One thing that has always been apparent about Franz Ferdinand is their knack for creating singles. 2003 saw the release of ‘Take Me Out’ from the eponymous debut, which saw thousands of people stamping the shit out of disco floors all over the country, and possibly the world. It was arguably the biggest single of the year. The first single released from their second offering ‘Do You Want Me’ had brigades of people marching along, but they had spread further a field with the aid of Erol Alkan.
This time dominating indie and electro dance floors all across 2005. Ulysses is certainly another ‘single’ but it sees Franz in new territory (or so they would like you to think), it opens with a minimal drum beat with Alex Kapranos whispering over the top, in what sounds like a multitude of accents. Then it’s Franz Ferdinand so in come the spiky guitar riffs right? Wrong. Kapranos wails ‘Let’s get high’ in a voice not dissimilar to Matt Bellamy and then in comes a big portly, intruding synthesiser that is like Get Behind Me Satan era White Stripes merged with a Suicide industrial twist to it, but not quite as affecting. When the familiar Franz progressive guitar parts glide in, the Synth remains and they formulate and fornicate with one another until they build into an enormous chorus. This is exactly what Franz Ferdinand do best. The chorus is basically the backbone and foundations of many other Franz Ferdinand songs, and it doesn’t break boundaries. However, plastering a synth all over their familiar territory choruses seems to have worked somewhat, it feels bigger and even more lavished with pop sensibilities than ever, they even get in a few “La La La’s” just to really tick the final box. Kapranos even attempts falsetto, attempting to emulate Prince somewhat.
The song really is monumental, not necessarily in terms of quality, but the scale, the build up, the chorus and even the noise. It’s an example of how a band has mastered a very difficult task in creating accessible and achievable pop songs, whilst also stamping them with their own distinctive brand. As pop songs go it’s a success, even if at times you do feel like you’ve been down that road before.