SAM FENDER: People Watching (Polydor)
Verdict: Soul-baring rock anthems
Sam Fender, the rising star from North Shields, is making waves not only in his hometown but also on a global scale. Often likened to the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen, Fender burst onto the commercial music scene in 2019 with his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles, which drew inspiration from the raw and harsh realities of life in his local community.
With both records topping the UK charts, his heart-on-sleeve approach has paid dividends far beyond the banks of the River Tyne.
He’s shortlisted for two BRIT awards next weekend – to go with the brace he picked up in 2022.
Following the success of his first album, Fender’s sophomore release, Seventeen Going Under, took a more introspective approach, showcasing his growth and maturity as an artist. His music resonated with audiences, leading to sold-out shows across Europe, including a headline slot at the prestigious Coachella Festival in the United States.
Fender’s latest offering, People Watching, marks his third studio album, demonstrating his evolution as a musician. Collaborating with renowned producers Markus Dravs and Adam Granduciel, Fender explores new musical territories while staying true to his signature style of heartfelt lyrics and authentic storytelling. The album blends elements of classic rock with contemporary sounds, showcasing Fender’s versatility and artistry.
With 30-year-old Fender’s guitar and piano work augmented by Granduciel’s brisk, shimmering synths and the rasping tones of saxophonist Johnny ‘Bluehat’ Davis, the music provides a richly-textured backdrop for his sharp, observational lyrics.
Dubbed the Geordie Springsteen when he broke through commercially in 2019, Sam Fender took inspiration from the grittier realities of life in his native North Shields on his guitar-driven debut album, Hypersonic Missiles.
Fender is shortlisted for two BRIT awards next weekend – to go with the brace he picked up in 2022
On blue-collar lament Crumbling Empire, he draws a parallel between industrial decay in the North East and a run-down Detroit neighbourhood he visited on a recent U.S. tour. He also, sensibly, acknowledges that it’s not the place of pop stars, even those from humble backgrounds, to lecture their fans. ‘I’m not preaching, I’m just talking,’ he sings. ‘I don’t wear the shoes I used to walk in.’
‘I’ll always end up writing about Newcastle,’ he explains. ‘Even though I’ve moved out, I still spend so much time there seeing my mates. They’re at the point where they’re starting to play house, with kids and mortgages, getting their own gaffs and getting married. I’ll always be a part of that, because it’s where I’m from. But my life has become very different.’
Elsewhere, on Chin Up, he contrasts today’s sometimes indulgent wellness culture with the nitty gritty of the friends he sees struggling with unemployment and drugs, while TV Dinner, sung in a falsetto, is a savage take-down of celebrity culture and its impact on young stars like Amy Winehouse. ‘She was just a bairn,’ he reflects. ‘They love her now, but bled her then.’
There are more intimate moments, too. On jangling guitar ballad Nostalgia’s Lie, he warns against romanticising the past, while 1980s-style rocker Arm’s Length examines both the unwanted scrutiny that comes with success and his own unwillingness to open up emotionally to a romantic partner.
The album is bookended by its two most powerful moments. Opening the record, the title track is a tribute to Fender’s late friend and mentor Annie Orwin, who encouraged his artistic ambitions when she ran a community drama group (‘I’ll hold you in my heart ’til the day I die,’ he sings). And the closing number, Remember My Name, is a torch song in memory of his late grandparents (‘It’s never the same without you’).
Two highly personal songs, they strike a universal chord.
People Watching is out today. Sam Fender plays London Stadium on June 6 and St. James’ Park, Newcastle, on June 12, 14 and 15. This summer also sees him at Wythenshawe Park, Manchester, on August 16, the Royal Highland Showgrounds, Edinburgh, on August 22, and Boucher Road Playing Fields, Belfast, on August 28 (Tickets for concerts, theatre, football, family days out).
Best of the new releases
SABRINA CARPENTER: Short n’ Sweet [Deluxe] (Island)
Expanded with five new tracks ahead of next month’s UK tour and her Hyde Park shows in July, the former Disney starlet’s latest album is the gift that keeps on giving.
The former Disney starlet’s latest album is the gift that keeps on giving
15 Minutes is an acerbic comment on fame’s fickle nature, Couldn’t Make It Any Harder a ballad with eyebrow-raising innuendo.
In a move to country music, Bad Reviews is a hoe-down, while 2024’s Please Please Please is reimagined as a bluegrass duet with Dolly Parton.
THE STYLISTICS: Falling In Love With My Girl (GMOAT)
Back with their first new album in 17 years, the Philly soul legends are joined by unexpected collaborators.
With founder members Airrion Love and Herb Murrell still on board, they are joined by Gene Simmons on Don’t Leave Me Here, and a falsetto-voiced Justin Hawkins, of The Darkness, on the title track.
It’s otherwise business as usual, with dramatic R&B numbers and throwback ballads with strings and electric sitar. Country-soul track Yes, I Will – sung with Shania Twain – is a highlight.
IDER: Late To The World (Nettwerk)
Originally a folk act called Lily & Meg, Londoners Lily Somerville and Megan Markwick have developed into a forceful electro-pop act since renaming themselves Ider in 2016.
Londoners Lily Somerville and Megan Markwick have developed into a forceful electro-pop act since renaming themselves Ider in 2016
The duo’s third album sets confessional lyrics to infectious hooks and a mix of synths, indie-rock guitars and live drums.
The title track takes a tongue-in-cheek view of expectations placed on young women.
You Don’t Know How To Drive is a spicy revenge song.
Impetus is lost on the slower tracks, but this is a gutsy statement of intent.
BRITTEN: The Prince Of The Pagodas (Hallé CD HLD 7565, two CDs)
It is possible to love Benjamin Britten’s compositions without even realising that he wrote ballet music such as this mid-1950s score.
This is only the second complete recording — even Britten’s own was cut — and it is beautifully executed by the Hallé Orchestra under its 38-year-old new chief conductor Kahchun Wong from Singapore.
Britten had already been commissioned by Sadler’s Wells Ballet when he and his companion Peter Pears went on a world tour in 1955-56; their visit to Bali (and exposure to the local gamelan music) was a revelation.
Kahchun Wong has loved the ballet since his student days, when he was amazed to discover that the composer had recreated the gamelan music for Act II Scene 2 using Western percussion instruments.
This fairy tale in dance has an enormous quota of individual numbers, all of which are unfailingly tuneful; and the recording quality achieved in Hallé St Peter’s, Ancoats, Manchester, is life-like.
R. & C. SCHUMANN: Oboe Music (Chandos CHAN 20295)
Two senior British musicians, oboist Nicholas Daniel and pianist Julius Drake, give a lesson in bel canto ‘singing’ on their instruments.
Can it really be 44 years since Daniel won the BBC Young Musician competition? He still coaxes a lithe, elastic tone out of what the great Leon Goossens called ‘an ill wind that nobody blows good’.
This is the best version of Robert Schumann’s Three Romances since the classic record by Holliger and Brendel; and the Fantasy Pieces, originally for clarinet, sound here as if they were made for the oboe.
Daniel has cleverly arranged Clara Schumann’s Three Romances for violin, probably her best-known pieces; and various other transcriptions of music by Robert, including the song Mondnacht, work well.
The sessions were held last year at Potton Hall in Suffolk and they clearly went smoothly; Drake is a fine accompanist and the two men could hardly be in greater accord. Lovely, luminous recordings.
Tully Potter
