Frank Turner | Positive Songs for Negative People
Posted in Music
I’m generally a pretty negative person and I could most definitely go for some positive songs. Thanks Frank! And let’s be honest, Turner isn’t fucking around. His new album is very upbeat, both lyrically and musically. I might even call it inspiring if I wasn’t such a negative asshole. The good feelings coming out of Positive Songs for Negative People is no small feat from someone so adept at writing about romantic heartbreak (try “Tell Tale Signs or “Substitute” for starters) as well as other tear-inducing topics like the death of a close friend. Man, it gets me every god damn time. But this time around Turner is determined to be positive and by golly so will I.
Really there is no reason for any Frank Turner fan to not be positive about this album. Musically it seems to embrace his entire back catalog with track one, “The Angel Islington”, serving as the immediate reflection of the acoustic sentiments starting with Turner’s 1st album, Sleep is for the Week. And I guess that while the clean production throughout the new disc is an extension of the Tape Deck Heart sessions, really Turner has created a pretty consistent musical sound throughout his career. Every album still sounds like it’s the same artist while being just being different enough to stand apart from each other. On Positive Songs for Negative People you can hear a little “Poetry of the Deed” in “Glorious You” and a numver of Turner songs in the “The Opening of Spring” and yet it still sounds like a new album. Turner has found the niche for his punk-afterlife alternative singer-songwriter tunes a decade ago and hasn’t needed to stray from the path he followed.
Since he went through the trouble of naming his 6th studio album Positive Songs for Negative People it’s conceivable that the major shift was lyrical. And this is true from the second track (and Green Day-esque) “Get Better” where he stresses “We can get better because we’re not dead yet” until the pseudo closer “Silent Key” (“Songs for Josh” feels like a bonus track at the end) where Turner repeats the theme singing “You’re Still Alive”. Its clear Turner still wants to believe (not sure if I should link Turner’s song “I Still Believe” or Mulder & Scully here) that we’re not too old for good things to happen in life. Maybe the most convincing words come from “Mittens” where instead of brooding over a girl he accepts the failure of his past relationships as just not a fit in the cutesiete way possible. Yeah I said cutesy. Eat shit, that’s what his analogy is.
Aside from his stupidly smart commentary on interlocking fingers. Turner appeals to the inner optimist in us with slightly Billy Joelish “The Next Storm”. Turner’s song appeals to most of the metaphorial level but also to anyone from New England that just went through the winter from hell: But I don’t want spend the whole of my life indoors/ Laying low, waiting on the next storm/ But I don’t want spend the whole of my life inside/ I wanna step out, and face the sunshine. “The Opening of Spring” continues with the weather metaphors to discuss themes of forgiveness while on “Demons” Turner implores us that “If life gives you demons, make A deal”. I don’t know how he avoided going with “make demonade” but the I think the takeway from that song is suppose to be “God damn, it’s great to be alive”
Positive Songs of Negative People is really a concept album; hoping that we can just appreciate it all. Even “Out of Breathe” a fast-paced 2 minute rocker about facing your death tries to turn the concept into one of empowement. And it has a cool western piano sound to it creating the feel that you are going to tell the devil to fuck off in an old timey saloon. “Josephine” a song that I swear The Gaslight Anthem forgot to record for Handwritten, has a little sadness in his quest of finding himself and finding somebody to love, but it does still have that glimmer of hope present. It’s a tough sell in a world where there is so much negativity and people are fucking shooting each other every day for no reason BUT I want to believe in Turner. I want to be positive. We’re still alive. We should probably make the most of it.
The Drink: Demonade. That’s lemonade with whiskey. Probably.
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Bake
I'm nothing. Maybe less than nothing. I also write.
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