Atwood Journal’s writers dive into the explosive storytelling and sonic ambition of Sam Fender’s third album ‘Individuals Watching’ – a daring, soul-stirring report that captures on a regular basis lives in vivid (and poetic) element, cements his evolution past the Springsteen comparisons, and finds him at his most introspective, nuanced, and electrifying.
Featured listed here are Atwood writers Emily Algar, Christine Buckley, Mitch Mosk, and Sam Franzini!
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To begin, what’s your relationship with Sam Fender’s music?
Sam Franzini: I had no concept who this man was till I noticed him on the entrance web page of AOTY.org — the place I get most of my new music suggestions. It bought fairly good evaluations, so I made a decision to take a hear, and fell in love fairly shortly.
Emily Frances Algar: All of the credit score goes to my youthful sister for introducing me to Sam Fender. It was his songs, “Play God” and “White Privilege” that bought me hooked. The previous is his greatest music thus far in my view. I then fell in love with “Spit Of You” off Seventeen Going Underneath. The lyric, “’Trigger it was love/ In all its agony” is one in every of my favorite items of songwriting. And now Individuals Watching is now on repeat in my home.
As somebody who grew up poor however in a really center class city, I actually join with Fender’s music; the identical for my sister. You don’t ever depart that vulnerability being poor behind.. You don’t overlook it, which is one thing I can relate to with Fender’s music, notably on his new report.
Christine Buckley: He was among the many first UK artists I found to get my thoughts off the pandemic in 2020, once I was going fairly loopy cooped up with younger children and dealing wild hours. His music was one of many causes my style shifted from folks and acoustic stuff to more durable rock–in all probability as a result of I had a lot pent-up frustration and rage. Hypersonic Missiles had simply been launched and it hit these themes particularly properly; I used to be impressed by “Lifeless Boys” and “White Privilege,” tracks that took direct intention at points we don’t usually see working-class white dudes deal with.
Mitch Mosk: I suppose Sam Fender first got here onto my radar again in 2019, when Atwood Journal printed a evaluation of his music “Poundshop Kardashians” (shoutout to Hermione for that introduction). That’s lengthy earlier than his debut album Hypersonic Missiles got here out, across the time that his debut EP Lifeless Boys was making the rounds, and I’ll admit, I heard him and was more than pleased to hail the second coming of Springsteen, no questions requested… I respect all these artists who stand on the shoulders of giants. That mentioned, it actually wasn’t till “Hypersonic Missiles” (the music and the album) got here out that I acknowledged Fender as a real needle in a haystack – a powerhouse singer, songwriter, and storyteller. By the point Seventeen Going Underneath got here out, I used to be a correct full-fledged fan. Yearly since then, someday round spring and summer time, I am going by a Sam Fender section, blasting his energizing anthems nonstop. To me, his music life-giving – an invigorating injection of candy sonic adrenaline – and even when he’s singing about moments of darkness, angst, and ache, there’s a throughline of hope and lightweight that I can’t assist however discover totally refreshing.
What are your preliminary impressions and reactions to Individuals Watching?
Sam: It’s so fascinating and spectacular — it’s like bringing soul to indie rock? It jogs my memory of Jack Antonoff with Bruce Springsteen and every music is so fastidiously crafted. Every instrument is available in on the excellent time, if that is sensible — no stone is unturned.
Christine: My first impression was that I can positive hear Adam Granduciel’s (The Conflict On Medicine) affect within the manufacturing, in an excellent manner. It’s bought that thick, constructing, shoegazey factor, which is a shift for Fender, however for followers of that “wall of sound” vibe it’s a pleasure. The album can also be extremely lyrically dense. Fender’s at all times been poetic, however right here the phrases come quick and in massive quantities, and beg for a number of listens to get all of it. It jogs my memory of Grian Chatten of Fontaines DC, however a bit much less darkish.
Mitch: They – I don’t know who “they” are – however they are saying your third album is the “one” the place you actually get to current your inventive imaginative and prescient in a completely realized and rounded manner. The debut album is a studying curve, and the sophomore album is commonly a response to the primary one – and I believe it’s protected to say that whereas Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Underneath are phenomenal data in their very own proper, Individuals Watching feels prefer it’s reaching a subsequent degree of accomplishment, in presenting Fender’s ideas and emotions on this cohesive album that basically does inform a narrative of societal and inside battle on that macro and micro scale. All of that is to say that I completely love this album, and really feel prefer it presents a mature, but nonetheless youthful and pushed, portrait of a now 30-year-old Sam Fender, absolutely in his prime.
How does this album examine to Sam’s previous data Hypersonic Missiles and Seventeen Going Underneath – what are essentially the most placing similarities or variations?
Emily: It’s a continuation, an evolution of his music and songwriting. His sound hasn’t massively deviated, however who he was when he wrote Hypersonic Missiles is gone, and he acknowledges this on the brand new report. He doesn’t faux to be the identical individual, however on the identical time he can’t escape it.
Christine: Individuals Watching has fewer intense, offended moments than Hypersonic Missiles or Seventeen Going Underneath, which has made some critics suppose it’s watered-down. However the fewer raging moments it has are that rather more poignant, like on “TV Dinner,” the place he lambasts the music business and name-checks one in every of his idols, Amy Winehouse. And I fairly agree with Emily: for somebody who has constructed his profession on authenticity, it’s not shocking he’s struggled to just accept a brand new identification constructed on success, and that wrestling writes itself into these songs.
Mitch: Like I mentioned earlier, it’s absolutely realized. To me, the primary two albums felt like collectiongs of songs – nice songs, at that! – however this one feels prefer it has a better ‘mission’ or ‘function.’ Perhaps I’m simply Individuals Watching pilled at this level, having listened to it so many instances on repeat, however there’s a cohesion to those eleven tracks assist make them really feel like they’re of their very own world – in a cinematic universe of their very own.
Fender teased Individuals Watching with a slew of singles – “Individuals Watching,” “Wild Lengthy Lie,” “Arm’s Size,” and “Bear in mind My Title.” Are these singles trustworthy representations of the album, and do any stand out as capturing the spirit of the album?
Sam: I believe “Individuals Watching” is the perfect reflection of the album, which is possibly why it’s the album title. It’s a very beautiful portrait of coming again to your own home to seek out that every little thing has modified, in methods anticipated and ones you by no means may have imagined. Whereas the title monitor issues the extra imprecise descriptor “folks,” “Wild Lengthy Lie” will get granular, depicting scenes within the toilet at a celebration and utilizing correct nouns (“Jimmy’s in my ear once more with a motormouth”). Zooming out and in to set a satisfying panorama is so intelligent and efficient.
Emily: I’ve to agree with Sam. I believe “Individuals Watching” is the perfect reflection of the general sound/theme of the report. The opposite singles, together with “Wild Lengthy Lie” and “Bear in mind My Title” additionally supplied slices of sound and storytelling to count on on the report.
The lyric, “Above the rain-soaked Backyard of Remembrance/ Kittiwakes etched your initials within the sky/ Oh, I concern for this crippled island and the turmoil of the instances/ And I’ll maintain you in my coronary heart ’til the day I die” is sort of a punch to the abdomen, as a result of it’s about demise of liked one, demise of your nation, and demise of the previous unexpectedly.
Christine: It’s fascinating – I’ve to disagree with Sam right here. By itself, the “Individuals Watching” single sounded to me prefer it belonged on Seventeen Going Underneath, and made me fear a repeat of that album was on the best way–not that that may have been so horrible, however I do prefer to see a terrific artist’s sound evolve. Then got here “Wild Lengthy Lie,” a ballsy six-minute single with meandering guitars, Johnny Blue Hat’s wailing sax, and the primary sniff of Granduciel’s magic. That perked me up. “Arm’s Size” then confirmed the hypnotic motif repetitions and nostalgic, krautrocky really feel that, for me, absolutely introduced us into the vibe of the album. Maybe that launch order was purposeful, to slowly transition folks from Fender’s earlier sound to his new one.
Individuals Watching has been billed as an album of “colourful tales and observations of on a regular basis characters residing their on a regular basis, however usually extraordinary, lives.” Does this description seize the spirit of those songs, and the place do you hear or really feel it most?
Sam: Completely — he jogs my memory of MJ Lenderman in these exact, reducing scenes of up to date Britain. These fascinating characters are given house to develop and kind by usually very brief traces — it’s a testomony to the actually robust writing. I believe regardless that “Crumbling Empire” most unsubtly reaches for this fashion of writing, it nonetheless works.
Emily: Agreed!
Christine: Sam’s been good at this from the beginning – even manner again on the monitor “Hypersonic Missiles,” he morphs into a personality whose on a regular basis however someway grotesque persona supplies a foil for all that’s mistaken with the world. Small cities stay an countless properly for him; their insularity breeds every little thing from bigotry and dependancy to lifelong love and group in Fender’s lyrics. I agree with Sam that it’s at instances unsubtle – “Nostalgia’s Lie” is a bit on the nostril–however on the entire he retains portray portraits that we are able to image in our personal lives.
Mitch: Wholeheartedly agreed – he’s a unbelievable storyteller of the on a regular basis, and I believe that’s what helps make all of his songs really feel so actual and relatable.
Since his debut, Sam Fender has been hailed, pretty or unfairly. because the second coming of Springsteen; does this title proceed to carry true? How do you are feeling about that label, now so a few years into his profession?
Sam: I really feel like that’s actually fascinating and partially true, so long as Sam identifies with it and agrees. He positively encapsulates a wierd form of patriotism as Springsteen that isn’t too leagured or corny — it’s simply music to make you are feeling nice. Like with some other indie rocker, I believe he’s a mixture of lots of totally different folks, however Springsteen does really feel like an important a part of his DNA.
Emily: I do get the comparability to Springsteen however, in my view, I believe it’s a lazy comparability. I discover him nearer to Jason Isbell or Townes Van Zandt when it comes to songwriting and storytelling. Springsteen’s writing is a zoomed out view of the American working class, whereas Isbell and Van Zandt’s songwriting zoom in on the small print; the lives of people, locations, experiences, which is one thing Fender does exquisitely.
Fender is from a disadvantaged space in North Shields, which has mainly been left to rot by subsequent governments. There’s no alternative for younger folks and nothing to look ahead to, however on the identical time, from Fender’s storytelling, it’s a spot that’s wealthy in tradition and group. Fender captures this desolation, previous and current, with out resorting to stereotypes. There his folks.
Christine: In his early profession it was actually true, since Fender didn’t but have lots of music on the market and the themes and sounds actually overlapped. However now after album three, notably sounding the least like Springsteen, I agree with Emily that the comparability is lazy. Supposedly Fender has joked that he doesn’t love the comparability anymore as a result of he’s additionally “ripped off a great deal of different folks.” In different phrases, he’s bought a wide selection of influences, and that’s actually changing into extra clear as he releases extra music.
Mitch: Once more, I believe the comparisons are warranted and I’m utterly okay with them – Springsteen’s sound is timeless for a purpose, and if I had it my manner, hundreds extra artists would pull inspiration from the likes of ‘Born to Run’ and ‘Darkness on the Fringe of City’ – however I really feel like at this level, eight years in, Sam Fender has established an identifiable sound and are available into his personal as a rock artist, and he ought to be capable to personal his nook of the universe with out The Boss’ shadow hanging overhead.
Which music(s) stand out for you on the album, and why?
Mitch: “Chin Up,” arms down (pun supposed). Going to tug from my current Editor’s Picks right here: “Tright here’s nothing like the ability of ‘hope’ – that intimate, emotional daylight that shines from inside. It’s intoxicating, it’s energizing, and it’s what makes Sam Fender’s ‘Chin Up’ as irresistible as it’s inspirational. The [album’s] third monitor is uncooked hope manifest in music: A rousing, spirited, emotionally charged anthem of ardour and perseverance, unfiltered willpower and limitless drive. It’s a music that acknowledges life’s actual hardships and the significance of introspection, all whereas soldiering on, it doesn’t matter what. You would possibly even say it’s the embedment of that well-known wartime Britishism, “Preserve Calm and Carry On.’”
As a result of even when issues are at their darkest, we should all attempt to hold our chin up – or as one other well-known rocker as soon as sang, “no retreat, child, no give up.” He’s channeled Springsteen’s sound one or twice earlier than, but on “Chin Up,” Fender comes into his personal with a private affirmation to stroll tall and maintain his head excessive, even when it’s “bent on bringing me down.” I believe Sam Fender’s lyrics have confirmed to be smart – and prescient – phrases at this juncture in 2025, when darkish instances solely appear to be getting darker. We may all stand to study a lesson from “Chin Up” as we transfer by life, sooner or later, one step, at a time.
I’m additionally going to throw “Crumbling Empire” into the combination as my second-favorite monitor; it’s brooding, it’s bought an intoxicating beat, and it’s an sincere, aching, all-too-real ode to the fractures of late-stage capitalism which have been revealing themselves in locations just like the UK and the USA over the previous nevertheless a few years. I learn another person describing this monitor as a “complete falling from grace,” and that simply feels all too becoming for the 12 months 2025… It’s true to Sam Fender’s Britain, and it’s true to my experiences and travels all through my native New York state, from components of town that which have been deserted and are actually crumbling, to once-great, revered, and now-abandonded working class / labor cities upstate that loved their glory days some 50 (and generally extra) years in the past. However to listen to the autumn expressed so poignantly and poetically by Fender’s lens is de facto unsettling – and, if I’m being sincere, upsetting:
It’s one for me,
and one for the lifeless,
and one for my crumbling empire
I’m not preaching, I’m simply speaking
I don’t put on the sneakers I used to stroll in
However I can’t assist pondering the place they’d take me
On this crumbling empire
Sam: “Wild Lengthy Lie” is so creative and nice — it’s greater than excellent when the sax is available in on the finish. The synthy and digital components that kick in throughout the lengthy sluggish burn… it feels fairly liberating and grand in a manner that lots of fashionable music simply isn’t. The piano that kicks off every refrain will get extra affecting every time.
Emily: Like Sam, I’ve to say “Wild Lengthy Lie.” It’s lovely and ambiguous. It’s so stuffed with longing and actually might be about something. I’ve my very own interpretation of the music, as I’m positive everybody else does. The road that will get me essentially the most is, “It’s that point of the 12 months once more, when your previous comes dwelling”. And like Sam says, it’s the piano kicking off every refrain that pulls at your soul.
Christine: Properly, okay, “Wild Lengthy Lie” can also be a favourite of mine however for the sake of selection I’ll go together with “TV Dinner,” which has such a secular title for an emotional gut-punch of a music. It jogs my memory in sound and theme of one in every of my different favourite Fender tracks, “Use,” about feeling manipulated and exploited for others’ profit. It’s additionally straightforward to overlook that Fender’s not only a songwriter and guitarist however a good pianist, and I have a tendency to like when the piano breaks by in these tracks, like on “The Dying Mild” and “Poltergeists.”
Do you will have any favourite lyrics up to now? Which traces stand out?
Sam: “Generally it’s more healthy to wallow in it.”
“Everyone’s dying for his or her flip to tug out anecdotes fraught with bloody lies.”
“I used to be holding on hope for a type of good friend / Oh, the blazing inferno of f*-ups type of bought in my manner.”
Emily: “It’s that point of the 12 months once more, when your previous comes dwelling.”
“Above the rain-soaked Backyard of Remembrance/ Kittiwakes etched your initials within the sky/ Oh, I concern for this crippled island and the turmoil of the instances/ And I’ll maintain you in my coronary heart ’til the day I die.”
“I’m not preaching, I’m simply speaking/ I don’t put on the sneakers I used to stroll in”
“Each flagstone of this city bears our prints/ And all of the bars spherical right here serve my ghosts and carcasses/ I want I knew this stuff once I was younger”
Christine: From “Bear in mind My Title,” I like:
I’m undecided of what awaits
Wasn’t a fan of Saint Peter and his gates
However, by God, I pray
That I’ll see you indirectly
Mitch: The “Chin Up” chorus, as direct and easy because it appears, resonated with me the primary time, the tenth time, and the 20 th time. I believe there’s energy in that type of bare, earnest, unfiltered honesty:
I’ll attempt to hold my chin up
Oh, my head is bent on bringing me down
Underneath the floorboards of this damaged dwelling
This one-horse city
Chin up, I’m dancing to the rhythm of it
Generally it’s more healthy to wallow in it
The place do you are feeling Individuals Watching sits within the pantheon of Sam Fender’s discography?
Christine: Fender overcame–really overachieved–the same old sophomore album expectations and strain with the insanely profitable Seventeen Going Underneath. That bar was so excessive it was at all times going to be laborious to fulfill or exceed. I’d wager that after that success, Fender mentioned “alreet, that’s sorted, now I’m gonna do what the f* I would like.” The result’s a extra nuanced album that gained’t break followers’ obsession with Seventeen, however remains to be a terrific album with extra influences, extra expansive sounds, and a reflective method that brings the 30-year-old singer into what I wager would be the prime of his profession.
Emily: Individuals Watching feels nearer to Hypersonic Missiles than Seventeen Going Underneath. I believe it has to do with the intimacy of the storytelling. The music is extra restrained than his earlier data, however that tends to occur with an artist’s discography. For me, the report matches completely into his continued evolution.
Mitch: To me, it appears like he’s unlocked a brand new degree of his personal artistry; truthfully I simply can’t watch for him to maintain digging deeper and delivering extra tales and songs. At this level, all three of his albums have performed gangbusters, every with its personal slew of hits, and I believe Individuals Watching continues Sam Fender’s nonstop upward trajectory. What’s most fun for me, proper now as I kind this, is how way more potential I hear on this album – I believe it’s going to have for much longer legs than people count on. To this point the title monitor and some pre-release singles have actually popped off, however you then’ve bought “Chin Up,” “Crumbling Empire” (my second favourite), “Rein Me In,” and “Nostalgia’s Lie” – every of which, I count on, will make its manner into our collective acutely aware earlier than the “period” is thru.
However no matter occurs, I’m coming alongside for the experience. Sam Fender has confirmed himself a trustworthy voice for his technology – my technology – and I’m simply completely happy to get to bear witness to his musical journey, because it’s unfolding in entrance of us, in actual time.
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“Arm’s Size” – Sam Fender
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© Sarah Louise Bennett
Individuals Watching
an album by Sam Fender