Lucid Dreams

Song: Lucid Dreams
Artist: Franz Ferdinand
Album: Madden ’09 Soundtrack




Franz Ferdinand’s as yet untitled third album is one of my most hotly anticipated for the upcoming new year (I know… still a big wait.) but we got a little bone thrown at us as a brand new song was just released that is reportedly on the new record (though not a single.) It will first be officially released on the soundtrack to a football videogame. Huh? Well, apparently there is this popular series of football video games that release about one a year called Madden (insert year.) I know I know… to you video game enthusiast I must sound like a super moron. I suppose it comes across the same as if someone asked me, “Have you heard of this band called the U2? I think they’re pretty great and may go places.” Ugh.

Well, like indie dance-rock act The Rapture showing up on the soundtrack to the latest Grand Theft Auto, which I recently blogged about… Scottish indie dance-rockers (hmmm… pattern here?) Franz Ferdinand are giving a brand new track “Lucid Dreams” for the soundtrack to this recently released game. I have no idea how Franz, and really specifically this song, fit into a football game but obviously a trend is on the horizon, and why not? Video games have become serious business, raking in more money than a lot of big-budget Hollywood movies. So if a song in a movie can change the career of a band or performer why not a video game? The audience is that big… and if the video game audience is more likely to then pick up the next album by either The Rapture or Franz vs. the latest emo crap I’m all for it. Rock on!

While “Lucid Dreams” doesn’t pop with the glorious hooks of “Take Me Out” or “Do You Want to?” after a couple listens I was sold. It has a faint needle scratch effect through the song (a notion almost extinct in the digital age) that gives the song a lo-fi charm. This is Franz at their most raw and given that the band had hinted the new record was going to focus more on the DANCE that the ROCK of their sound I’m a bit baffled. But now I’m even more excited… what are they going to surprise us with? It has an almost live quality to it that hasn’t been evident in any of their released material. But like all Franz, it’s catchy, fun, and you’ll find yourself singing along to the “whoa’s!” in the track.

Enjoy…

the wait.