Albums : Frank Turner : Tape Deck Heart

Albums : Frank Turner : Tape Deck Heart

Listen To Frank Turner : Tape Deck Heart

Who Is Frank Turner?
A former member of punk rock band Million Dead, Frank Turner turned his attention to folkier, acoustic "musics" after the demise of the aforementioned hardcore outfit. Born in Bahrain in 1981, Turner was educated at Eton College in England. His first foray into the world of punk and rock, with the band Kneejerk, came to an end in 2000, and he soon found himself joining up with Million Dead. Over the course of that band's four-year lifespan, Million Dead released two critically lauded albums, but the band decided enough was enough and called it a day in 2005. Turner decided to explore a different world after Million Dead, focusing on his love of folk and country, with acoustic guitar being the guiding force. Getting a deal with Xtra Mile Recordings, he was able to release his first EP, Campfire Punkrock, in 2006. Critically well received, the EP led to a full-length album in January of 2007, Sleep Is for the Week, which was also a critical hit and a moderate success saleswise.

While filling in just about all of his free time with touring, Turner kept recording, and released the EP The Real Damage and a DVD, All About the Destination, in 2007. His next album, Love Ire & Song, was due in the midst of more live appearances in March of 2008. Turner's label signed a distribution deal with Epitaph in the United States in late 2008. The end result was his Poetry of the Deed in September, 2009, his first release stateside. In addition, Epitaph also reissued Love Ire & Song in the U.S. Later that year, Turner released a stellar solo acoustic cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Thunder Road" as a single via Suburban Home Records, and followed it with the album England Keep My Bones in June of 2011. In 2012, Turner released Last Minutes and Lost Evenings, a 15-track, handpicked collection of album cuts and rarities intended to introduce the fiery Englishman to an American audience. It was followed in 2013 by his fifth studio album, the Burbank, California-recorded Tape Deck Heart.

Tape Deck Heart Review
British singer-songwriter Frank Turner is a music-industry throwback. In spite of his position in some circles as an artist new to America (mainly because the new Tape Deck Heart, his fifth studio album, is being distributed in the U.S. via major label Interscope instead of Epitaph), the 31-year-old folk-punk is an established musician who has built a career on his own terms—and at his own pace. During the past eight years as a solo artist, Turner has accrued loyal followers with tireless touring, a steady stream of new music, and charismatic live shows, leading to superstardom in the U.K. (he sold out Wembley Arena last year) and a rabid cult following Stateside.

Produced by Rich Costey (Muse, Interpol), Tape Deck Heart already shows signs of expanding Turner’s reputation in the U.S.; the album’s jaunty lead single, “Recovery,” is a song about post-breakup hopelessness with radio-friendly strums and singsong rhythms. The rest of Tape Deck Heart is just as accessible, and feels like a slightly more polished take on his last album, 2011’s England Keep My Bones. (At times, it’s even quite reminiscent of Dusk And Summer-era Dashboard Confessional.) It’s also full of exquisite detail: Strident mandolin, bar-band piano, and murmuring organ—all courtesy of Turner’s backing band, The Sleeping Souls—enhance his rich acoustic guitar and British accent-tinged vocals. While Tape Deck Heart is meticulous, it’s far from well-mannered; the tunes range from barnstorming electric rock (“Plain Sailing Weather”) and harrowing folk (the sparse “Tell Tale Signs” and “Anymore”) to Billy Bragg-like pop (“Losing Days”), and ferocious punk howls (“Four Simple Words”).

Lyrically, the album is just as detailed. Where England Keep My Bones featured multiple songs focused on his homeland, Tape Deck Heart is very much an inward-looking record. Turner wrestles with memories of the ones that got away, realizes with terror how fast time slips away as he grows older, struggles with admitting he’s fallen out of love, and berates himself for screwing up a relationship. Yet his clever wit pops up from time to time, adding some much-needed levity. “Good & Gone” curses both Hollywood and Mötley Crüe for the ways each distorts love’s reality, while “Oh Brother” jokes about the “old flyers, lame tattoos, the in-jokes and memories” that bond band members who are going their separate ways—a group that formed many years before because one member knew “the chords to ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit.’” Tape Deck Heart might be a far cry from Turner’s strident acoustic punk roots, but his brutally honest self-reflection and unflinching romantic analysis elevate the record into something just as meaningful.


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