Album Review : Frank Turner - Poetry Of The Deed
- Written by Helen Szczupak
Ex-hardcore band Million Dead-member Frank Turner has a new offering in the form of album 'Poetry Of The Deed', and what a treat it is. Turner is simplistic and original with his folk-punk style sound. His music is very personal and is far from the repetitive over-produced tracks that drown the music market on a daily basis.
Opening track 'Live Fast Die Young' is instantly catchy with the simplistic and endearing trademark Frank Turner sound. A one-man-vocal that details personal accounts of life situations, the song is sung with real feeling and sincerity. This is an album highlight that will win listeners over from the start.
This album is one man with a guitar and his thoughts set to a backing band. Every song is like a journey, telling stories that allow you to feel like you really get to know just who Frank Turner is and how he thinks.
'Try This At Home' is a faster paced and lively sing along track about the superficiality of being a rock star and writing songs. "There's no such thing as rock stars/there's just people who play music/and some of them are just like us/and some of them are dicks/so quick turn off your stereo/pick up that pen and paper/yeah, you can do much better than some skinny half arsed English country singer".
'Dan's Song' is another highlight of the album, a real storytelling track about getting older, easy to relate to with mouth organ melodies injected over guitar rhythms.
Frank Turner brings out his more melancholic and endearing side through the heartfelt track that is 'Faithful Son', in its pure and storytelling form. We see a softer side to his lyrics with smoother melodies and likeable reflective words. "What would any of us do/if all the dreams that we had came true/what would there be left to dream about?"
A track that would have made a fine album closer is 'Sunday Nights' with a song that sums up the exact Sunday evening feeling (in fact we are feeling it as we write). So many songs have been written about Friday and Saturday feelgood nights but few have attempted to write a track about the feeling of the realisation on a Sunday evening when the weekend is over and the week ahead seems long and tormenting. Turner sums his feelings up perfectly and coherently.
'Our Lady Of The Campfires' breathes life into the album with a stronger sound and all out vocal performance. An injection that seems to fall in the wrong place on the album, this would have been better placed sooner as the power of this song is lost in the opening notes of 'Journey Of The Magi'.
The third studio album from Frank Turner proves that his popularity and success are well deserved; a collection of well written songs, there is something here for everyone. He may have started his career in a hardcore band but his sincere lyrics and wholesome songs are evidently his true calling. Long may he reign.