Fender is currently on a sold out arena tour in London.
Sam Fender releases his new album, Seventeen Going Under (Interscope). The LP is a more intensely personal record than his 2019 debut Hypersonic Missiles yet it has lost none of Sam's acute sense of observation.
Sam turns his own experience into art that speaks to, and resonates with all of us. These are stunning songs that arrow straight to, and straight from, the heart.
Leading to the release of Seventeen Going Under Sam has shared "Spit Of You," "Seventeen Going Under," "Aye," and "Get You Down" which have seen pick up from, among others, Billboard, Brooklyn Vegan, and Guitar World who called the title track "an infectious indie rock lungbuster that is up there with the very best of his repertoire."
Earlier this week Sam shared a video for "Spit Of You" featuring British actor Stephen Graham. The video was directed by the award-winning Philip Barantini (Band of Brothers, Chernobyl, Humans).
Back in the spring of 2019, this writer sat down with Sam Fender as he was still piecing together Hypersonic Missiles, the sky-scraping debut which six months later would go on to top numerous charts and mint Fender's status as the most important songwriter of his generation.
Through the prism of an acutely aware kid from a council estate in North Shields, tracks such as Dead Boys, The Borders and Leave Fast yearned for escape while finding poetry and drama in the lives of those surrounding their author. They were songs with their eyes - and their hearts - wide open. As he sat in the afternoon sun, Fender reflected on the viewpoint within his songs with typical North Eastern self-deprecation.
A rare talent, the 25 year-old musician plays every gig as though it might well be his last, armed with this huge, cavernous vocal, guitar strapped on (a Fender, obviously), and fuelled by that seemingly old-school belief that great guitar music still has the power to change lives and influence people. Sam's lyrics are observational, questioning and socially engaged. He has an innate gift for disentangling heavy and important material. Rolling Stone took note saying "The 25-year-old's uncannily mature songs tackle weighty topics without flinching."
Listen to the new album here:
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