Franz Ferdinand explain Xenomania split

Franz Ferdinand's Alex Kapranos has explained why the rock band's collaboration with pop production house Xenomania didn't work out.

The frontman told Exclaim that Xenomania operated too much like a band and working on an album with them would have been akin to "going to the Arcade Fire and asking them to produce our record".

He said: "We hung out with Brian [Higgins] and the other guys, sat around talking about the music, but what we realised was that Xenomania kind of works like a band in its own right.

"They have guys who write and perform the music and what they have with Xenomania is kind of like what we have as Franz Ferdinand: a group of people that develop musical ideas."

Despite only recording one song with Xenomania, Kapranos praised the producers, saying: "Xenomania are one of the most exciting things to happen to British pop music in the last 20 years."

Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, the group's first release since 2005, will arrive on January 27.