After putting out a few records, many bands would attempt to reinvent themselves or try something experimental. In the four year gap since their last record, 'Tonight', Franz Ferdinand have laughed at the notion as they not only stick to their own successful formula but do so by releasing their most defiantly pop record to date. Everything you would expect is here: the staccato guitars, the art-school lyrics and the streak of humour that runs down the spine of everything they release. As cheeky and as avant-garde as their hits 'Do You Want To' and 'Take Me Out', lead single 'Right Action' is the sound of a band that has never doubted itself and knows exactly what is required of them on this, their fourth full length release. With the sound of a sleazy dance floor there is a real sense of command on the single 'Evil Eye' that continues on 'Love Illumination' but with the welcome addition of trumpets.'Please believe everybody steals' sings Alex Kapranos on 'Fresh Strawberries', a track that has a tinge of erratic psychedelia about it. As usual Kapranos and the band have moulded their sound from strands that reach every corner of the last 60 years of pop and rock. 'Stand On The Horizion' is disco-infused but is much more laid back than the angular Dr.Feelgood vibe the band most famously offer. Skipping from the jangle of the 60's to 'Bullet' takez us to the edge of 80's punk in a song about how hard it is to get someone or something out of your head. The hyperactive 'Treason! Animals' misses the mark by not having a strong enough hook to be anything more than an album track. If the first third of the record is where the potential hit singles reside, it is in the final trio of tracks that the band's art school heritage most prominently stands. Things take a slightly unexpected turn in this final section as late brit pop becomes the overriding influence. 'The Universe Expanded' sounds like latter-era Pulp as it tells the story of a dysfunctional relationship in reverse; 'I'll meet you coming back/When the universe has expanded/Time will contract/You'll come back.' 'Brief Encounter' is reminiscent of Blur in the thick of '13' and 'Think Tank.' 'I hope you didn't bring flowers' sneers Kapranos as the ominous 'Goodbye Lovers & Friends' closes the album; 'You know I hate pop music' he later sings. It isn't clear if this is a declaration of frustration or yet another tongue in cheek lyric. Either way, it makes for an attention-grabbing ending to the most pop album of their career so far.It is hard to tell if the singles from this album will capture the imagination like mega hit 'Take Me Out' or fail to connect like 'Ulysses' from 2009's 'Tonight: Franz Ferdinand' but it is certain that the core fan base will be delighted and those, like myself, who have drifted since 2005's 'You Could Have It So Much Better' may well return on the strength of this record. Putting Franz Ferdinand's back catalogue on shuffle would make it impossible to spot which songs are new and which are old, such is the pocket of the industry they have refined as their own in the last decade. They sound a little like everybody but nobody sounds quite like them.