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Frank Turner has got Positive Songs for Negative People
Indie | Thursday 6th August 2015 | gabriella
If you go to enough Frank Turner gigs, you're bound to hear upcoming tracks played live as a test drive.
On his last tour, several gems from upcoming album Positive Songs for Negative People were debuted to live crowds. His sixth album is due out on August 7th, coinciding with an intimate ballot entry only gig in London. Six records down the line, Turner has honed his evolving sound, and for the first time, this album sounds pretty similar to the last one. While some were up in arms about his departure from his punk roots (as a founding member of Million Dead), Postive Songs for Negaitve People is a full stop on that departure, but also an ellipses on whats to come.
Opening track 'Angel Islington' is hauntingly melancholy, and points to more positivity than anything else, ending with the softly sung "by the water of the Thames, I resolve to start again". The rest of the album returns to Turner's anthem like sound, with the full backing of his band. Those who heard some sneak peeks spend most of the album waiting for 'Mittens', one of the standout tracks. It reads like one retelling a dream, set not to overwhelming rock n' roll, but to a softer but still full sound.
The standout songs are ones like 'Mittens', where Turner takes a theme and hones in on a small moment. Without the personal touch, they're still good tracks but they lack that distinctive Frank Turner narritive. In 'Mittens', as well as 'Song for Josh' (a much softer take on suicide in comparison to Poetry of the Deed's Richard Divine'), anger at loss lingers quietly behind the harmonies, revealing Turner's long running themes of disquiet.
The other familiar themes reimgerge - the open road, dealing with loss, and weathering storms. In the case of Positive Songs for Negative People, he seems no longer focused on what's ahead but on looking back on what's gotten him to where he is now. He is quieter, ruminating and pensive. It is an album almost in past tense, combining sadness in hope in a way that only hindsight can. It leaves the listener wondering what's next. If we take his word for it, it will be different.
Positive Songs for Negative People is out August 7th, accompanied by an intimate gig at London's The Garage, all ahead of a 16 date UK tour.
