"The idea of making a dirty pop record -- this is what has been on our minds," Franz Ferdinand frontman Alex Kapranos tells Billboard.com of the band's ongoing studio sessions in Glasgow. A new, as-yet-untitled album is expected from the group this summer via Epic.

"It's the opposite of punk/pop, which took something that was wonderful and removed all the dirt," Kapranos says. The approach is best-heard on "Ride Together," a "full-on upbeat, riding across the desert rock song. A lot of the other stuff is more rhythm- and dance-based," he says.

After demoing material in Glasgow, the group intended to record the album in a proper studio in London. But after trial sessions there, "we decided the ones we did in Glasgow sounded much better," according to Kapranos. "There was a real dirtiness, edge and attitude."

"We've decided we're going to do it up here, ourselves," he continues. "It's funny, because logically everything is wrong. We should go to a big studio and spend millions. But logic is never appropriate when you're making music. You've gotta trust your instincts. This stuff made us want to get up and dance."

Aiding the band's new sonic endeavors are some old Russian synthesizers. "We found this thing called a Polyvox, built by a Russian engineer in the late '70s," Kapranos says. "He'd heard what a Moog was and had heard the sounds, but had no idea how to make one. He worked out how it would be made and made his version of what he thought a synth would be."

He concludes, "For me, the imperfections are what makes it perfect, like the cheapest, shittiest guitars through practice amps."