Franz Ferdinand Can Go All Night

ARTIST: Franz Ferdinand TITLE: Tonight: Franz Ferdinand WEB DEBUT: Jan. 10, 2009 RELEASE DATE: Jan. 27, 2009

ONE-LISTEN VERDICT: Tonight lives up to its name in that its sequencing sort of mimics that of a lengthy night on the town. For the first two-thirds of the album, the Glaswegians are in prime post-dance-punk form: “Twilight Omens” winds around a synth burst that sounds like it was lifted from the Who’s sessions for “You Better You Bet”; “What She Came For” is prime Franz stripped down, with vocals that sound like they were recorded on a whim and a sort of speed-metal/rockabilly ending. But the centerpiece of the album is “Lucid Dreams,” which the band previewed on its site a few months ago and which here is stretched out into nearly eight minutes, the final four of which consist of grinding, pulsing mood music that could stretch on for hours if CDs didn’t have space limits. After the heady fade-out of “Dreams,” the album comes to a close with two quieter tracks—”Dream Again,” which opens in such a way that it sounds like the band’s collectively wiping the sleep from its eyes and goes on to channel the best downtempo moments of the electro outfit Broadcast, and the plain vocals-and-guitar “Katherine Kiss Me”—that signify the end of the party, and the long walk home.

THE BEST TRACK: “Dreams” is in a class of its own, but I also dig the sinewy “Live Alone,” which has a pogoing bassline and gleaming keyboard part that sounds like it was rescued from the band’s ill-fated sessions with the Girls Aloud producers Xenomania.