If Franz Ferdinand’s self-titled debut was the equivalent to an image-savvy, swaggering scenester’s night out, then the band’s follow-up is the after party.

There are hints of the glitz, but the foursome let down its guard a bit; the skinny ties have been loosened but not undone. But make no mistake, the finely-tuned casualness is no accident – sloppy has never sounded this chic.

The band is proof dance music can be made with live instruments, but this album is a reminder why that is so rare. It’s difficult to do, and even more difficult to do well.

And Franz pulls it off again; it’s hard to teach old hipsters new tricks. The stomping choruses on “Do You Want To” and “This Boy,” the disco-esque beats on “Outsiders” and Alex Kapranos’ suave croon in “The Fallen” would have fit on the band’s 2004 release – an album which got uncoordinated boys in backwards hats and sandals to dance between beer bongs to tales about leather-clad “beautiful boys on a beautiful dance-floor.”

Yet it’s the brooding melodies on “Walk Away” and multiple harmonies on acoustic tracks “You’re The Reason I’m Leaving” and “Fade Together” that make this album the most expansive of the group’s limited catalogue.

However, these moments get overwhelmed and outnumbered by the album’s more raucous songs.

The Scots’ sophomore release is thicker sounding than its predecessor, in part to razor-like guitars on “Evil and a Heathen,” and manic tempos during the title track and “Well That Was Easy.”

Somehow, between the pleasantly mellow tunes and wildly aggressive rock’n’roll, the band never loses sight that it wants people to dance – even if they don’t know how.