Back in 2012, Frank Hamilton set himself a task of writing, recording and releasing a song a week for an entire year. It started on the sofa in his living room and by December 2012 Frank had a number one album on iTunes, featuring writing collaborations with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Newton Faulkner.
Since then he’s recorded an EP on the London Eye with a string courted and now a few years later, he’s back with a more conventional studio album. With “Songs to Make Life Slightly Less Awkward” Frank Hamilton may have finished it off (as he puts it) “in a nice studio with professionals” but his honest DIY approach remains key to the writing.
Opening with “AOTC” the album soon shows a slight change in direction with the more electro “Love Drug” but it’s on tracks such as “10 Days” and “Had Enough” where the album is at its most descriptive. Lyrically this feels very much a narrative into Hamilton’s own life, with the two aforementioned tracks in particular having a similar charm to fellow Frank, Mr Frank Turner.
It’s that narrative that gives us all something to which we can no doubt relate, “Songs we fall asleep to” is Frank Hamilton in a reflective mood, whilst the single “Saturday Night” is an observation into the British culture of going out on the beer. The accompanying video pretty much writes itself, following Frank through a night jumping on and off London transport and wandering the streets past the nightclub queues, although the carnage that follows such events is left largely untouched.
Elsewhere the folky “We Started a Band” is another biographic set of lyrics, and musically/vocally returns to Frank Turner territory, whilst the influences of previous mainstream collaborations with Ed Sheeran/Newton Faulkner are luckily few and far between.
There may be a couple of easily forgotten tracks towards the end of the album while the artist continues to try and find a new direction, but the surprising closing song in “More or Less” (featuring Dodie Clark) leaves you intrigued, making me wonder if Frank Hamilton will continue with the standard way of recording… or if he’s going to return to his more experimental side.
Frank Hamilton – “Songs to Make Life Slightly Less Awkward” out now.
