Frank Turner’s solo career began when his post-hardcore band Million Dead called it a day back in 2005. But he’s lost no momentum as he unveils his fifth and most intimate album to date, the 12-song strong Tape Deck Heart.
Turner was recently in Australia, keeping busy performing with his band The Sleeping Souls alongside the Dropkick Murphy’s national tour, but this album definitely shows off the virtues of going solo for, as it is raw, emotional and diverse.
Each song displays another branch of musical talent and lyrical beauty, and the whole album rolls on with tremendous unity, making it difficult to pluck songs apart.
The early “Losing Days” details time lost and wounds acquired; the power and simultaneous uselessness of hindsight with moving lines such as “I remember well the day that I got my first tattoo…I was so proud when it was new… But these days I’ve gone and got me more…I get more when I get bored.” While the tragic refrain reminds listeners that “I keep losing days…as greatness slips on by.”
This theme continues throughout the album, but there are brighter, simpler moments such as “Four Simple Words” which, with its pure request – “I want to dance” – and sonic lightness and pace, reminds us of Turner’s punk background, but does not neglect the expressiveness of this fifth creation.
The roaring “The Fisher King Blues,” signifies the proverbial beginning of the end of Tape Deck Heart, the melodies softening after this, and the lyrics reaching their most soul baring as the album ends with “Broken Piano.” This song is the ultimate expression of abandonment and aloneness, captured best by the closing line, “but as I stroked those broken keys, you did not join in harmony.”
Tape Deck Heart is an exhibition by a profoundly capable musician, who has chosen this time to document his own experiences and expose his soul. It’s worked too, because Frank Turner’s fifth album lacks indulgence, and captivates unreservedly from beginning to end.
