If we can trust lead singer Alex Kapranos’ assurances, Franz Ferdinand’s upcoming album should be a cheap Soviet rip-off of their last two. It seems that the archdukes of dance-punk have found a muse in the filthy and defective. Forgoing the (expensive) opportunity to cut their record in London, the band have decided to work it out in their native Scotland. Kapranos told Billboard.com that “there was a real dirtiness, edge and attitude” to the songs they recorded in Glasgow, and they didn’t want to lose that filthy feeling. To complete the picture, Kapranos also divulged the acquisition of a Polyvox synthesizer, some Russian engineer’s ersatz attempt to replicate the Moog in the 1970’s. If Franz Ferdinand is a small child, he has surely entered the anal stage.

The band responsible for coyly crooning about “sticky hips” and “fantastic pleasure” talk as if their last two albums comprised of campfire sing-alongs. Their third LP, intended for a summer release via Epic Records, would seem to throw any glistening pop-punk pretensions out the window and distill to a greasy core of dance beats. This, pronounces Kapranos, will be Franz’s “dirty pop record.”