When I first discovered English folk punk troubadour Frank Turner it was around the time of the release of his third album, Poetry Of The Deed, back in 2009 when, I have to admit I felt something of a late comer to him, now though, as he releases his 10th studio album, Undefeated, and preparations are underway for his 3000th gig, I realise maybe that wasn’t the case.
Why do I bring that up in a review of Undefeated, you may well be asking and, well, it’s because, whether consciously or otherwise, there’s a sense here that Turner has been looking back over his career with that informing this whole album, while the opening pair of tracks, Do One and (the excellently knowingly titled) Nevermind The Back Problems, in their way, very much reminding me of how I felt when I first pressed play on Poetry Of The Deed nearly 15 years ago.
Across the 14 tracks here then Frank really does take us through his whole range of sounds from the big singalong of Do One and the blazing, hyper speed, folk punk of Back Problems to East Finchley, which takes us back to his early, Campfire Punkrock, days in North London, and The Girl From The Record Shop almost being his version of The Wildhearts’ 29x The Pain.
It’s not just a retread though as in this, and throughout the record, he brings these sounds up to date with backing band The Sleeping Souls along for the musical ride and the outlook of a man in his early forties informing the lyrics in a way that, as a man in my early forties myself, is entirely relatable.
Elsewhere on the record Frank turns his eye, and often his ire (and song…), to his younger self (Ceasefire, Letters and Somewhere Inbetween), world politics (Leaders) and music industry trends and ‘tastemakers’ (No Thank You For The Music) while Show People is a terrific celebration of the kind of people who enter ‘show business’ for the love of it, rather than wealth, fame or whatever, and includes a namecheck for cult singer-Songwriter John Otway which is always to be appreciated.
Closer, and title track, Undefeated takes a lot of this and puts it into one song at once looking back and looking forward in a way that, I guess, could feel rather like a midlife crisis song but, as is often something that stands out in Frank’s work, it actually comes with an ultimately positive and empowering message about independence and survival – certainly a ‘positive song for negative people’, to borrow a phrase.
In the midst of all of this comes the song Pandemic PTSD which I’ve singled out as, even more than the other tracks already do, it feels like this captures something of how many in the world are feeling right now having come through some of the strangest times we (hopefully) will ever experience but that the world almost seems to be trying to ignore even happened, despite the seismic changes they caused, with a particular focus on mental health and how the world needs to process this – a feeling I can’t help but relate to.
Undefeated then feels like Frank Turner at something of a crossroads, looking back but at the same time looking forward and saying ‘if you think I’m done because I’m over 40 you’ve got another think coming’, reaffirming his energy and passion while being ultimately positive and life affirming without hiding away from the world’s challenges.
Maybe it’s just because of my background and outlook but, at least as much if not more than ever, this record feels like Frank Turner is speaking to me and in many ways, as I’ve referenced in the past, feels to me like Bruce Springsteen does to people of a previous generation, but in his own unique way.
Tommy Girard 
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