Frank Turner Shares “Do One” & Announces “Undefeated” Album

Frank Turner is set to release his tenth album, Undefeated, on the 3rd May via Xtra Mile Recordings, which he today launches with the new single, Do One. Undefeated follows 2022’s FTHC and is the result of his decision to step away from the major label world to re-embrace the liberation of working as an independent artist. The new single, Do One, sees them firing on all cylinders, a supremely catchy message of defiance which straddles the spectrum between power-pop and pop-punk.

“‘Do One’ is the last song I wrote for the new album, and the first song on that album, as well as the first single. So it’s a summation of what I’m trying to say with this record, a record about survival and defiance, but also one with a sense of fun and self-deprecation. 19 years into my solo career, I’m still standing up and putting out some of my best work. It feels good. There are no clichés about the difficult 10th album, so in some ways, that’s a liberating statement. But at the same time, I have a duty to justify writing and releasing a 10th album. That’s a lot of records for anybody. Also, I’m 42. Which is not a sexy, rock’n’roll age. But all through my career, I’ve been interested in writers like Loudon Wainwright III or The Hold Steady, people who write about adulthood, essentially.” (Frank Turner)

Finding the sweet spot between youthful outspokenness and surviving midlife’s challenges, Undefated is a record that explores both emotionally compelling topics and lighter reflections on those troubles that eventually come to most of us. Who you are versus who you wanted to be in your youth; life-altering love; fading friendships; wistful nostalgia; the mental fallout and political consequences that still linger from the pandemic era; and the more prosaic issue of persistent backache. While thematically Undefeated is informed by this time in life, sonically it’s full of echoes to influences that Frank has touched upon at various moments in his kaleidoscopic career. It switches from Black Flag to Counting Crows, from Descendents to The Pogues, via Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg. Its freewheeling nature is reflective not only of his new-found independence, but also of the creative environment he found himself in. As usual, it was entirely written by himself, but this is the first album that he produced himself, recorded in the home studio that he and his wife, Jessica Guise, share on Mersea Island, Essex.