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That said, like many artists, Turner’s political outrage has been reawakened as of late. So much so that an album he has already written — which he refers to as a concept album about “obscure women in history” — has been temporarily shelved in favour of a new collection of songs that address what he sees as a world “gone mad.”

“Having spent a couple of albums quite consciously shying away from contemporary, social-political comment, the things that are happening on the world stage right now — if I can say this without sounding pretentious — they are demanding comment of me,” says Turner, who will be opening for Hamilton, Ont.-based alt-rockers the Arkells Saturday night at the BMO Centre. “I feel like I have to say my piece about what’s going on. I’ve immediately started writing a whole other record. My aim is to have a record out by the end of the year so we’ll see how that goes.”

Of course, it’s not as if Turner’s reputation as a fiery social commentator really faded, even after he consciously stepped away from overtly political songwriting. Part of this might be because of his musical background in post-hardcore punk, where he led the politically charged Million Dead. As a solo artist he has fallen into what has been loosely defined as folk-punk, straddling two genres both known for social commentary. His first EP, released in 2006, was called Campfire Punkrock and included a song called Thatcher F—cked Up the Kids.

Beyond that, his politics have come under a good deal of scrutiny from punk purists and the political left in Britain in the past five years. In 2012, a writer for the Guardian printed a number of quotes from the singer from previous years where, among other things, he defined himself as “pretty right wing.” (He quickly clarified, saying he was not a Tory, conservative or a Republican, nor does he consider himself right wing. He’s just not “a leftist.”)