Even before it was anywhere near release Frank Turner was already courting controversy thanks to the concept of his new album, No Man’s Land, which is based around the idea of telling the stories of women from history, many in the musical or artistic world, in a way that celebrates them and exposes their stories to a wider audience.

Certainly that’s an admirable aim, as is the inclusion of (with the exception of Turner) an all female cast of musicians and producer Catherine Marks who has worked with the likes of The Killers, Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes and Foals.

While the feminist angle has been well covered I’m not sure it’s entirely my place to go into that so I’m going to focus on the songs and the music and how that relates to the overall concept.

Things start off reasonably well with a track straight out of Turner’s usual wheelhouse, Jinny Bingham’s Ghost, that combines his style of folk punk with a tale of north London, both things that have served him well in the past.

This is followed by lead single Sister Rosetta (about rock ‘n’ roll pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe) which fits Turner’s more current rocking style and has a good energy.

These turn out to be two of the record’s highlights but they also have tell tale signs of the problems that exist across the rest of the album.

While all the songs are fine, they often times lack the real passion and power that marked Turner at his best in the past and it’s hard to avoid the fact that it’s when he’s not singing about things directly related to his life that he becomes less engaging.

This is most obvious on Silent Key (about Christa McAuliffe who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster), a reworked, semi-acoustic, version of a song from Positive Songs For Negative People that had really stood out to me on that album, but here falls flat and loses the power and desperate darkness that made the original version so strong.

After a rather melancholy central section The Death Of Dora Hand brings a breath of fresh air, while The Lioness comes on with genuine power and closer Rosemary Jane, about Turner’s own mother, has the heart that is sometimes missing elsewhere, ending things on a positive note.

While there are a few genuinely good tracks on No Man’s Land there are also a few too many that seem to miss the mark and, when it comes to the concept side, it never quite becomes clear exactly what point Turner is trying to make.

Certainly there are interesting stories to tell about these women but too often here they feel like they barely scratch the surface or quite make it clear why this woman has been chosen while in other cases the focus seems to be more on their direct relationship with men which just muddles things a little too much.

In all then No Man’s Land falls between two stools with the songs, as a whole, not quite being strong enough to overcome the issues in the concept, but equally the concept isn’t defined enough to carry through the weaker songs making for an album that, while admirable in intent, falls somewhat short.