Single Review: Frank Turner – ‘Losing Days’
2 min readFrank Turner is an English folk/punk singer-songwriter with five albums under his belt.
Losing Days is a Rich Costey (best known for his work with Muse)-produced cut from his latest LP, Tape Deck Heart. Clearly a homage to The Cure with its up-tempo guitars, mandolins and drums, listeners could be forgiven for thinking they were listening to a spot-on cover of Friday I’m In Love after the first 15 seconds.
Once Turner’s voice and lyrics come in, it’s clear that Lonely Days is very different. The song is about life knocking you about; getting your first tattoo; being told you won’t ‘live past twenty five’; knowing you have many more days ahead; generally, not taking life for granted.
Turner’s raw and passionate vocals particularly shine on the main hook ‘greatness slips on by’ in the chorus, where he also harmonizes nicely with himself. His delivery at the end sounds like the voice of a man whose life literally depends on not losing any more days and letting anything slip away like in the past. The final minute is the song’s emotional highlight.
His lyrics about living life to the fullest fit nicely with the uplifting melody and doesn’t sound clunky at all. A great example is the couplet in “collecting scars that don’t seem to fade, cuts and bruises that won’t go away”. The joyful song then ends on an ambiguous note, as if to suggest that life goes on.
Lonely Days is definitely a grower, but once listeners forget about the Friday I’m in Love comparisons, this song certainly stands up on its own merits.
Buy ‘Frank Turner – Losing Days’ from Amazon