Positive Songs for Negative People

Critical reception

Positive Songs for Negative People received favourable reviews but music critics were divided by Turner's vocal delivery and lyricism. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 20 reviews.

Mark Beaumont of NME praised the sentiments spread throughout the album and the variety of emotions the songs bring out. Eric Swedlund of The A.V. Club found the album better than Tape Deck Heart, praising the upbeat demeanor that goes along with Turner's songwriting, saying that "[T]he result pushes Turner and his band back into more energetic territory after the careful, pristine sound of his previous effort." Thom Jurek of AllMusic praised the album's eclectic musicianship combined with uplifting and introspective lyrics, calling it "an invigorating, infectious set that reaffirms Turner's faith in music's power to motivate and heal."

Alexis Petredis of The Guardian found some of the material weary with its earnestness and rousing bombast, but said that they were outweighed with more melancholic tracks like "Silent Key" and "Song for Josh", concluding that, "For all its flaws, Positive Songs for Negative People feels like the work of someone who knows exactly what he’s doing." Ryan Reed of Paste noted that the songs throughout were marred by a mixture of embarrassing lyrics with soaring choruses, concluding that "Turner leaves behind considerable wreckage with Positive Songs—in ways both cathartic and clumsy. And as usual, he goes down swinging."

Stuart Knapman of DIY found the album's various themes lacking in terms of insight and character that worked well in previous efforts, saying that "'Positive Songs…' simply fails to live up to the high standards Turner has previously set." Benjamin Bland of Drowned in Sound criticised the album for being a re-hash of previous material but replaces the charm and witty lyricism with off-putting delivery and generic lyrics that are "almost self-parody level at times." Bland said that, "This is Turner’s most staid and uninvolving work to date, suggesting that some of the filler that clogged up 2013’s decent enough Tape Deck Heart was a sign of things to come."

Track listing

All tracks written by Frank Turner, except where noted.