Why Franz Ferdinand are sublime

Published on Sunday 5 June 2005 00:38

FRANZ Ferdinand run the risk of running foul of the law in the US after deciding to use subliminal messages on their new album.

The Glasgow band plan to use the technique, which has been blamed for brainwashing and banned by Congress.

The hidden messages - which are usually played at just below the conscious threshold - can be used by advertisers to influence buyers.

The group are currently in New York editing the as-yet unnamed and much-awaited second CD following recordings at lead singer Alex Kapranos's new Dumfries and Galloway country home.

Yesterday, Kapranos disclosed the band were planning to include hidden messages in the new album, and had already done so in their eponymous debut, which sold more than two million copies worldwide.

He said: "On the last record, we had messages in the music. There was that trend in the 1970s and 1980s of back-masking, where you'd put the most terrible satanic messages on songs.

"We wanted to do the exact opposite, put the most positive thing we could think of as a backwards message. There's one on the first record, at the beginning of the second verse in 'Michael'. And we're going to do that on this album, too."

On 'Michael', the line "Call your mother, she's worried about you" could be deciphered. It referred to bassist Bob Hardy, who became homesick while recording the album in Sweden.

Acts like the Beatles, Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden have also used embedded subliminal messages within their music.