Last week, longtime Franz Ferdinand guitarist Nick McCarthy announced that he’d be leaving the band in order to spend more time with family and further explore his own songwriting. Not wasting any time, McCarthy has returned today with “Cracks in the Concrete”, the first single from Manuela, his new project with wife and singer Manuela Gernedel.
Upon announcing his departure, McCarthy said he’d be concentrating “on production and writing some completely different things for a bit.” While Manuela’s debut track certainly skews more toward the pop side of things, it isn’t too much of a far cry from Franz Ferdinand’s dance-y, upbeat material. Gernedel talked to Stereogum about the song, saying:
“Lyrically ‘Cracks In The Concrete’, like much of the album, is skipping back and forth between a narration and internal monologue. The line ‘cracks in the concrete’ was partly inspired by the French phrase ‘sous les páves, la plage!’ which came up during the student revolts there in May ’68. Roughly translated it says ‘there is sand underneath the pavement!’ It’s talking about the potential of things breaking and breaking up things. Everything is morbid and falling apart and you have to keep on telling yourself that it’s going to work itself out (‘everything is healing’).”
Stream “Cracks in the Concrete” below.
Manuela’s as-yet-untitled debut LP is in the works and is said to feature guests in Jim Dixon of Django Django, Roxanne Clifford of Veronica Falls, and fellow Franz Ferdinand member Paul Thomson.