Frank Turner - Tape Deck Heart - Review

Frank Turner is back with his fifth studio album, Tape Deck Heart. This was definitely one of my most anticipated albums of the year. After hearing a few snippets at his live shows I was quite excited to hear the rest of the album. The album is by Franks own admission a break-up album. So can we still get the same standard of songs as the previous four?

My verdict… we will get to that soon but first a rundown of the album overall.

Opening track and also first single off the Album ‘Recovery' is a typical Turner track. The song is typically about a breakup and the feelings that you go through with Lyrics such as “I'm as lost as lost can be and I'm hoping you can drag me out from down here towards to my recovery” you would think that it is a folk ballad. What you are greeted with is however an anthemic, jaunty and overall a cracking track.

‘The Way I Tend to be’ is a love song no doubt about it. Even if it is a reminiscent love song, it has a fantastic folk root, which sees his band use a number of string instruments within the track.

‘Plain Sailing Weather’ is on the verge of punk-folk that Frank likes to intertwine. It is like taking you to the seaside and only dipping your big toe in the sea but not fully. It is like he is waiting to give you the full punk feel of this album.

The track that does stand out on the album is ‘Four Simple Words.’  This little beauty shies away from the albums theme of relationships, and promotes his passion for punk-rock. It starts off a little like his song ‘The Ballad of me and my Friends’ from his debut, slowly, hands in the air swaying then bam the punk hits you. He takes a swipe at the young for their take on music, ‘sick of the music that's churned out by lacklustre scenesters from Shoreditch.’  Frank is one of the hardest working musicians in the business, he is constantly on the road, and music is his life. This track highlights all of this and more.

Overall this is a fantastic album, and one that keeps on giving with such tracks as ‘Tattoos,’ ‘Undeveloped Film’ and ‘Polaroid Picture’ it is an album that is hard to ignore. Frank Turner has the ability to write his lyrics, with such passion and imagery around them, the listener has no other option but to believe in them.