Franz Ferdinand, you're such a tease.

Every music fan, no matter how intellectually capable or musically analytical, is allowed to have one unhealthy band obsession. It's the one that you've google searched, wikipedia'd and mySpace'd one too many times. You know all their lyrics, maybe even all of the b-sides. If they made a trivia game about the band, you'd buy it, then complain and return it because it wasn't challenging enough. Don't try to deny it. Everyone has that one band that makes them melt. This is mine:

BEST PICTURE EVER!

Franz Ferdinand. They're like the guy or the girl that you think is trying to lead you on, and the temptation almost unbearable, and you just don't quite know why. There's something about the way they talk, the way they write their songs, or the way their eyebrows dance when they sing. The relationship becomes almost abusive when you know you're being lead on, but you just don't care... They've been teasing their fans for months now in preparation for the third album. In August of last year, the content of their official site was replaced with black background and the words:

Promises of new tracks were kept, and a number of them are available through YouTube with debatable audio and visual quality. They had only been leaked through live performances. Then of course, being the teases that they are, they released some short... well, teasers for their upcoming album.

First with "Flight of the Galvatron". Intense stuff!



Then with something called "The Tradition".



And finally, a clip called "Under the Stage".



The website has been restored. It now has a new look, and is unsurprisingly reminiscent of their usual style and font. It's also got a frequently updated band diary that allows you to get a glimpse inside those intriguing minds they have, a neat music sampler filled mostly with what appears to be instrumental clips from their new songs. Most intriguing however, is the new song, "Lucid Dreams". It was made available to fans yesterday on their site, but the corresponding diary entry insists that "it's not a single".

Franz Ferdinand - Lucid Dreams (mp3)

I bet marketing people are really good at leading people on in everyday life too.