FTHC

After tour plans for the rest of 2020 were cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdown measures, Turner engaged in a weekly series of acoustic livestreams from his home which he called "Independent Venue Love", the goal of which was to raise money for grassroots venues that were struggling due to the lack of patronage caused by the pandemic and lockdown.[2] During these streams, he began performing new material alongside his previously released back catalogue. Among these was "The Gathering", a track about longing for the return of live music that would later go on to be released as the album's lead single in May 2021.

Turner continued to debut new material during the livestreams[3] and as UK restrictions began to relax in the summer of 2020, he entered the Abbey Recording Studio in Oxford and began recording FTHC with Rich Costey, who handled production and mixing duties remotely.[1] Drummer Nigel Powell's departure from Turner's backing band The Sleeping Souls in October 2020[4] lead to him utilising guest musicians on the drums, with Muse drummer Dominic Howard featuring on "The Gathering" (alongside a guitar solo from Jason Isbell) [5] while Ilan Rubin of Nine Inch Nails and Angels & Airwaves handles drums on the rest of the record.[6]

Upon announcing the album, Turner said that after Be More Kind's foray into "electronic music" and the "history folk" stylings of No Man's Land, he wanted to "restate his purpose as an artist" and "blow the cobwebs away". He described the album as a more "direct and raw" and "sonically aggressive" exploration of his personal issues that was "built [to be played] live."[7]

Following its release as a single in November 2021, Turner revealed the origins of the song "Miranda", which tells the story of how his father had transitioned and was now living as a transgender woman. The track's lyrics discuss him and Miranda's previously tumultuous relationship and how they began to reconcile following her transition, with Turner stating in an interview with The Guardian that "Miranda is a really nice person – my dad wasn’t."[8]

"The Gathering" was released as the record's lead single on 6 May 2021 and coincided with the announcement of a run of summer shows between June and September 2021 known as "The Gathering: Summer 2021".[5] The record's second single "Haven't Been Doing So Well" was released on 16 September 2021, alongside the announcement of the album and it's full tracklist. In addition to this, a tour of the UK in support of the record named "The Never Ending Tour of Everywhere" was announced, beginning in January 2022.[1] The album's opening track, "Non Serviam", was released as the record's third single on October 29th, 2021, [9] with "Miranda" following as the album's fourth single on November 26, 2021.[10]

FTHC is due to be released on 11 February 2022.

Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls

• Frank Turner – lead vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar
• Ben Lloyd – electric guitar, mandolin, backing vocals
• Tarrant Anderson – bass guitar, backing vocals
• Matt Nasir – piano, keyboards, organ, backing vocals

Additional musicians

• Dominic Howard – drums (track 2)
• Jason Isbell – electric guitar (track 2)
• Ilan Rubin – drums (tracks 1, 3-14)

Production

• Rich Costey – production, mixing