Frank Turner Finishes New Album

Even after BMK, i’m still intrigued to see what he tries next because I do respect his eagerness to try new stuff even if it doesn’t always stick. He posted a video last week of him playing a Chet Atkins-esque riff that sounded awesome. I had no idea he was that good of a player.

 

I'm really, really excited about this release. I really didn't care for the last record, but... The fact that he says the songs are "experimental" and "sprawling" has me curious to see what he's going to come out with.

That description, coupled with the producer, is giving me some hope.

 

be more kind was a big step back for him

 

I wonder if that’s why the turnaround time from that album to this one was so quick? Like he waited 3 years between PSFNP and BMK, but the former was a pretty big hit for the most part and he toured a lot on that record. I’m assuming this new album will drop in the fall or the very beginning of 2020. BMK isn’t even a year old yet.

 

For me to read the lyrics to some of those songs and say "Fuck yeah, I feel where you're coming from!" and then be utterly bored by the songs themselves is really something. The whole thing just felt like an attempt to delve into "pop-rock" territory... Which isn't always a bad thing.

But the songs just felt forced, like they were missing something.

I'm curious to hear what he has to say about BMK like, five years from now.

If it's so different, it may be that he just had a bunch of different song ideas floating around that didn't fit Be More Kind so putting together an album was easier. I also feel like, given that the album was pretty much a flop in terms of overall response... Might be an effort to prevent from losing too much momentum.

 

In regards to what you said about how BMK will age, I think half of the album will age well. I saw him on the BMK tour, and he played Little Changes, 1933, Blackout, Brave Face, BMK and Make America Great Again, and all of those songs translated really well in a live setting. Of the songs I mentioned though, MAGA probably won’t age well.

 

I think the turnaround was so quick because the songs for this new album were already all written. I'm pretty sure this is the record Frank was talking about before he started writing Be More Kind: a concept album about unknown women in history or something like that. He already started playing songs from that album in 2016/17, but he put the entire record aside after Trump/Brexit which made him write Be More Kind.

The fact that he seems to be working nearly exclusively with women for this record according to the Instagram posts also makes me believe that it's going to be the shelved concept album.