Wednesday, December 14, 2022

Jeff's Best of 2022 - #5: Frank Turner - FTHC

It's funny how fandoms change and shift over time. Ken turned me onto Frank Turner a number of years ago, although his older stuff felt a little more raw than I preferred. While his recent output has been mixed in many regards, FTHC ends up feeling like a return to form as well as a nice combination of better production value and classic storytelling.

I think what I love most about this album is how it balances emotions throughout its runtime. "Haven't Been Doing So Well" felt right on for our pandemic era, "Fatheless" a naked and brutal look at growing up with a broken family life, "A Wave Across A Bay" a pitch-perfect tribute to a friend dead from suicide. With all of these different moods and tales, a lesser musician taking them on would invariably misread the tone a bit, but Turner somehow makes it all work. It's a deft musical play and an impressive feat.

This is probably my favorite Frank Turner record since Positive Songs for Negative People and I've kept going back to multiple songs on this throughout the year. Absolutely one of the great releases of 2022.

Songs of note: "Haven't Been Doing So Well," "Fatherless," "A Wave Across a Bay," "The Resurrectionists"

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