Album Review: Frank Turner - "FTHC"

 

It's good to see Frank Turner back in our midst again - in recent years, the guy has often been there with a welcome arm around the shoulder in hard times on recent albums such as the mournful Be More Kind and the eye-opening No Man's Land. But with FTHC, he's definitely come up with something of a curveball as he returns to his punk roots.

It's there right from the instant that the ferocious two minute opener Non Serviam knocks you right across the room with its sheer anger. There's little sign of the acoustic-led reflection we've come to expect from Frank down the years, here he's fully plugged in and going for the jugular. Second track The Gathering is an almost exorcistic outpouring of the frustrations of the lockdown and the anticipation of finally being able to get out there and start playing again. Lead-off single Haven't Been Doing So Well sees a bit more melody returning with an ode to the hardships a lot of us have been feeling in recent years although this is still ten times heavier than similar tracks like Photosynthesis which it owes a slight kinship with.

Untainted Love is a brutally honest look at cold turkey with Turner really sounding as if he's snarling out all the venom from his past and Fatherless is a vicious rant about being packed off to boarding school as a kid and missing out on a traditional family structure while you're growing up - it's quickly becoming clear that this is going to be anything but easy listening as evidenced by the almost thrash-heavy My Bad, another ferocious diatribe about his upbringing. The unexpected twist comes with the next track Miranda which reveals that Turner's dad has now crossgendered and the pair have now reconciled and gives a sudden ray of light into the darkness. It works perfectly and really shows off what a good songwriter the guy is as if we didn't know that already.

A Wave Across The Bay is a gut-wrencher of a tribute to a friend of Turner's who committed suicide and you can hear his voice coming close to cracking more than once during the track. After that, the dark humour of The Resurrectionists where Turner sings "In 1981, I was perfect for a month but it's been downhill ever since then" actually almost comes across as some light to go against the dark even if it's pretty cutting and brutal in terms of its lyrics. The angry Punches, the call for sensibility of Perfect Score and the comparatively gentle ode to working on a relationship that is The Work keep things rolling nicely before the closing one-two of the mournful Little Life which looks back at how moving out of the city and leaving your old life behind post-pandemic and gentrification sucking the soul out of London can make you appreciate the smaller things in life and the slow-building heartfelt adios to Turner's adopted capital hometown Farewell To My City bring the album to a close in style.

If you're one of the fans who's grown up with Turner via albums such as Love, Ire and Song and England Keep My Bones then the sheer heaviosity of FTHC (although the clue's in the title) might take you by surprise when you first hear it but rest assured this is still the sort of honest (brutally so at times) heartfelt songwriting that we've come to expect from him over the years and this album can happily sit alongside past glories as one of his best. Cathartically angry, it's a huge surge of energy and relief that will take you on an emotional rollercoaster but leave you feeling just that bit better for having listened to it.

NITE SONGS RATING: 🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌔🌑🌑 (8/10)