FRANK TURNER
Undefeated (Xtra Mile)
Not many artists get to releasing 10 albums, but not many artists are Frank Turner. For those unfamiliar, Turner is a punk rock troubadour who plays hundreds of shows every year and is usually very good at what he does. His new album Undefeated is not an exception to that: if anything, it’s quintessential Frank Turner.
There’s songs about being yourself and unrepentant in that (Do One), there’s songs filled with yearning and melancholy (East Finchley), and there’s catchy songs that are so filled to the brim with romanticism that you can’t help but be rushed away alongside them (International Hide And Seek Champions). The album’s finest moment comes in the form of Somewhere Inbetween, which shows Turner at his introspective best – opening with “I’ve been pretending to be somebody else since I was just 15” and spilling the guts of a man in his 40s who’s been doing ‘this’ for a very long time now and is coming up to his 3000th live show next year.
The album is not without its flaws, though – Girl From The Record Shop, especially, feels a bit cringe, but thankfully it’s one of the album’s shorter tracks. Still, as a whole Undefeated’s good enough for us.
words JOSHUA WILLIAMS
