Frank Turner: ‘Positive Song’ with a touch of darkness

It might not be immediately apparent, but Frank Turner’s music has strong punk rock roots. In fact, his work is often categorized as “folk-punk,” a seemingly contradictory classification that makes perfect sense when you hear it.

The British singer-songwriter, who stops by the Knitting Factory on Friday, broke out as a solo artist after his post-hardcore band Million Dead split up in 2005. Turner’s current four-piece backing band, the Sleeping Souls, has featured the same lineup since ’08, and Turner points to the E Street Band as a model for the group’s chemistry.

“I know some singers tour with whoever they seem to have found in the studio parking lot while they were getting on the tour bus,” Turner said. “I feel very lucky at the moment, sort of having my cake and eating, one might say. … In those early years, when it was just me traveling around with a guitar, the thing you miss is the camaraderie, the feeling of being in a gang. And we have that now.”

Turner considers his new album “Positive Songs for Negative People” something of a thematic companion piece to its predecessor, 2013’s “Tape Deck Heart.” That record documented a particularly tumultuous breakup, while its follow-up seems to document the aftermath.

“ ‘Tape Deck Heart’ was a record about failure and collapse,” Turner said. “It was written about and during a not particularly fun part of my life. And the new record is about pulling through that and the recovery from that, trying to look forward and upward again.

“It’s about that feeling of vitality one can get in a moment of collapse or catastrophe.”

“Positive Songs” certainly has some darkness in it: “Silent Key” focuses on Christa McAuliffe, the teacher who died in the Challenger space shuttle explosion, and the album closer “Song for Josh” laments the suicide of Washington, D.C., club manager Josh Burdette. But its brand of introspection is relatively optimistic, at least in comparison to “Tape Deck Heart.”

“We had a difficult winter / We had rough few months,” Turner sings on the piano-tinged tune “New Storm.” “I don’t want spend the whole of my life inside / I wanna step out and face the sunshine.” On “Get Better,” Turner admits, “I’m trying to get better / Because I haven’t been my best.”

As to whether he considers himself a generally positive person, Turner said, “On Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, I’m a negative person. Thursday through Saturday, I’m positive. And Sunday’s up for grabs.”

Although Turner’s music has grown gentler and more introspective as his career has unfolded, he said it’s still defined by the punk and metal ethos that initially inspired him to make music.

“I play guitar hard and I sing loudly, which are things I learned playing in hardcore bands,” Turner said. “My attitude toward the business side of what I do is defined by Henry Rollins, at least I like to think it is. I feel like you can take the boy out of punk rock, but you can’t take the punk rock out of the boy.”