ALBUM REVIEW: Frank Turner – FTHC (Xtra Mile Recordings)
Folk-punk singer Frank Turner started his career as vocalist of post-hardcore band Million Dead, so it should come as no surprise when he decides to let rip a little.
But I’ve got to say I was a little taken aback – in a very pleasant way – but just how FUCKING ANGRY he sounds in places of this ninth solo studio album.
His last couple of offerings have tended towards the folkier, most acoustic side of his canon of work, but much of FTHC is absolutely raging, resulting in his best record in years – maybe even the best of his career.
Rowdy opener Non Serviam (Latin for ‘I will not serve’) sets the tone, with him and his band The Sleeping Souls sounding heavier than ever, and there’s no let-up for lead single The Gathering, which is about longing for the return of live music.
Haven’t Been Doing So Well is probably the most typically Frank Turner song on the album, about dealing with depression, and after the last couple of years a lot of people will identify as he sings “if self-loathing was a sport I’d be Muhammad Ali/Because I can sting like a butterfly and sink like a bee”.
Lockdown was obviously a cathartic time for Turner, and he addresses some key issues from his past, not least on Untainted Love, when he admits “I sure do miss cocaine, the bravado and the bloodstains, crushing highs and creeping shame”.
His relationship with his father is the subject of a trio of songs which make up the backbone of the album, Fatherless is about being sent off to boarding school at the age of eight, and lacking a father figure to teach him how to be a man.
My Bad is another angry rant, this time about hating his upbringing and the expectations it brought with it, concluding: “I did not want to be my father’s son.
Forgiving mood
The third part of the triumvirate, Miranda, is a more relaxed tune telling the story of how his once-estranged father transitioned and now lives as a transgender woman, but all is forgiven, as he sings “it was never about who she was, just the way that he behaved”.
It’s one of the best songs on the record, and that’s also the case with A Wave Across A Bay, a heartfelt tribute to his much-missed friend Scott Hutchison of Scottish indie-folk band Frightened Rabbit. I’d put it on a par with one of my favourite FT songs, Long Live The Queen. Yes, it’s that good.
Soul-baring satisfied, it’s time to get angry again, and The Resurrectionists is about the pains of growing up and losing touch with old friends, while Punches turns up the fury even further, fighting back against life’s frustrations.
Perfect Score sees Frank in self-apologetic mode, insisting “I’m genuinely sorry for all the stupid things that I’ve done”, before concluding “no one has a perfect score”.
The closing trio of songs sees our man contemplating reaching 40 and settling down. The Work sees him getting used to being a married man, doing domestic chores at home, instead of being on the road, with all its excesses.
Little Life is about leaving London with wife Jess for a quieter life, while Farewell To The City is a memory-laden love letter to “the place that I used to call home”.
Turner says he wanted FTHC to “blow the cobwebs away”. It certainly does that, and is right up there with Love Ire & Song and England Keep My Bones as his best work. 9/10.
