So I picked the only album I was really looking forward to in March. I have been waiting for this album since I discovered his 2007 debut "Sleep Is For The Week" (released January last year) last autumn. It was full of perfectly craft folk-punk tracks, and surprisingly good lyrics. However, where the first showed potential for Frank to become a song writer to remember, his second album has flashes of brilliance that I would put up their with the likes of Alex Turner or Pete Doherty.
The lines "Live is about love, last minutes and lost evenings, about fire in out bellies and furtive little feelings, and the aching amplitudes that set our needles all a-flickering, and help us with remembering that the only thing left to do is live." from opener "I Knew Prufrock Before He Got Famous" are some of the best lyrics I've heard in ages, if not ever, especially when combined with brilliant delivery.
Without meaning to focus too much on the lyrics, they are some of the easiest to relate to. Tracks "Photosynthesis" (featuring backing vocals from The Holloways) and "Reasons Not To Be An Idiot" are about how you shouldn't follow the "grow up, get job, get family" stereotype. "You just got used to saying no, because its a lovely sunny day, and you hide yourself away. You've only got yourself to blame, get up, get down and get outside" from "Reasons..." and "If all you ever do with your life is photosynthesize, then you deserve every hour of your sleepless night that you waste wondering when you're gonna die" from "Photosynthesis", seem to sum this up perfectly.
Other highlights are "Substitute", title-track "Love, Ire & Song" and closer "Jet Lag" (which is absolutely beautiful), where the line "You always ask if I'm ok, but it's not the same as being happy" particularly stands out. However, to single out tracks isn't really fair. Every single track is brilliant in it's own right. The first track I heard off this album was, first single, "Photosynthesis", and I played it over and over and didn't get bored, and the same goes for every other track on here.
I could go on and on quoting lyrics and describing every song, and I'm on my 3rd listen through now, and I seriously thing that the opening track "I Knew Prufrock..." is one of the best songs I've heard. Ever.
Musically, this is one of the few albums that anyone could like. I understand the criticism of other bands I like, for example, I can see why some people would find Death Cab For Cutie boring. However, not here, maybe the odd track, but there is a track on here for everyone to relate to. This is easily the best album of the year so far, and if it's not in my top 5 at the end of the year I'll be suprised. I am completely, head-over-heels in love with Love, Ire & Song. Ben Gibbard? Frank Turner is the most underrated song writer of all time, and still one of the greatest.
