Is the angry folk rocker feeling a little sad? Well, Frank Turner always had melancholy undertones that were overridden by his snarky voice that continues to make a fantastic combination. The new album “Songbook” came out Friday, November 24 and has 10 songs he already produced, but acoustically takes a new approach or in some cases an old approach.
Take note, the first half of the album is unaltered originals from his past albums. I would simply describe this as a bonified greatest hits album with variations of certain songs. Being a lover of acoustic sets, this album is gold to me. I’m pretty sure Frank Fans will faun over this album and its beauty, and as always with Frank Turner, its personality. His albums always seem to have a personality. If you were to put the group of them at a table they would have crazier conversations than the main character in “Split”. But this album attempts to bring those personalities together while signifying a change. Take a look at how his life played a major role in developing his music’s personality: Spindle Article
‘Songbook’ is a moment of reflection & celebration of my work as a songwriter to date, including my favorite recorded songs, 10 new alternative versions of older songs, and one new track.
-Frank Turner Provided Via: http://frank-turner.com/
Is Frank Turner’s next album going to be mellower? He is taking the time to reflect and celebrate his past works (which is something artists seem to do as they get older and go through life changes). The most important hint is his new song “There She Is“.
“There She Is” is a love song. Unlike the common style of Frank Turner pointing out all the ugly faults and failures but claiming them as his own, claiming them as beautiful, he is optimistic. Is this what we are to expect from the next album? Why not? Love makes us do crazy things, and I believe Frank Turner is in love (Dear person he is in love with, please don’t break his heart, the fan base loves him too).
This optimism and positivity are needed in times like these. We listen to Punk or Alternative, or Folk (I’m trying to not offend any overly opinionated music terminology people out there) music because we are angry, we are sad, and we are happy. We can listen to Frank Turner and feel understood in these feelings, and I think he would be delighted by this.
-Wesley A. Gehman