Sunday, November 15, 2009

Frank Turner: Poetry of the Deed



So I picked up Frank Turner's new(ish) album, Poetry of the Deed, and figured that I'd throw up a couple of tracks and talk about it a little bit.

For those of you who aren't necessarily familiar with Frank Turner, that's completely okay - I'd never heard of him until about four days ago, either. Apparently, though, he used to front Million Dead, which was some sort of post-hardcore British punk band that broke up a few years ago, and he's been making folk music ever since. He's also written a song called "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous". Hm.

Anyways - the music on Poetry of the Deed is really a mixed bag. There are a few tracks that are completely awesome (like the three I'm putting up here), as well as a few that aren't quite so strong, due mostly to little clunky bits that mess up the sonic and lyrical flow - in the title track, for instance, after a reference to Baudelaire and a verse whose lyrics go "Pentameter in attack, iambic pulse in the veins, / free verse powered off the street light mains, / an Iliad played out without a shadow of doubt / between the end of the club and the sun coming out. /
Leave Kerouac at his desk, we have romance in our risks" - which is just drop-dead gorgeous stuff - Turner inexplicably decides that rhyming, over and over, "poetry" and "show it me" is a good idea, thus completely ruining the ending of that track.

So. There are moments of cringeworthy lyrical clunkiness - but, at the same time, there are tracks that are just wonderfully done; "Live Fast Die Old" has gotten a lot of hype, and worthily so - it flat-out rocks, and its thoughtful lyrics belie the seeming ease with which the song flows; it's obvious that the track is well-crafted and well-worked, but it feels effortless. Lyrics like "We can never sell out because we never brought in, / And if they build it back up then we'll swing back in town / and bring the whole thing down again" work nicely with the guitar, piano, and drums that dominate the track.

Take a listen! And have a great Sunday afternoon, eh?

Frank Turner - Live Fast Die Old


Frank Turner - Sons of Liberty


and, finally, just to have some flashy video up in here -
though, seriously, the song is pretty awesome -

Frank Turner - The Road

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