Album Review: Sam Fender - ‘Seventeen Going Under’
Sam Fender’s debut ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ rocketed straight to the top of the UK (and Scottish when we were still allowed our own) charts in 2019. His meteoric rise wasn’t much of a surprise really when you consider just how many bangers that debut had. From the Springsteen-esque stadium-filling sounds of ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ to the triumphant tear-jerker ‘Dead Boys,’ the album was packed full of anthems that fans and critics alike lapped up.
Like the first, the second record begins with the title track. Ever since its first airplay on Radio 1 back in July, ‘Seventeen Going Under’ has managed to bottle that difficult to describe emotional quality of reflecting on your youth through a mixture of sweet and sour memories which encapsulate the town you grew up in and the people that inhabited it. The opening guitar line manages to transport you to the past in a not too dissimilar fashion to walking out of the foyer at Beamish in the North East.
The drum and bassline tempo on ‘Getting Started’ is reminiscent of ‘The Borders’ from Fender’s debut. It’s not quite as punchy but it’s every bit as important. It’s peak Sam Fender when the saxophone pipes up in the final third. Moments like this are what made so many fall in love with his music as the songs wear their heart on their sleeve which can turn what could have otherwise been a pleasant but fairly ordinary song into something magical and unforgettable.
Fans of moodier and heavier moments along the lines of early singles ‘Millennial’ and ‘Play God’ won’t be disappointed as there’s plenty of attitude in ‘Aye,’ ‘Long Way Off’ and ‘The Leveller’ which bring a rougher edge to proceedings. Fender has never shied away from speaking his mind and saying it how it is (see ‘Poundshop Kardashians’ from the ‘Dead Boys EP’). ‘Aye’ feels like a similar release with the instrumental side not wavering too much which allows all the focus to be on the unfiltered lyrics which you could imagine being spat out from a megaphone.
‘Spit Of You’ feels like the moment the mobiles will go into overdrive at gigs as fans scramble to record a grainy diagonal video. It’s a gentle and unassuming number that arrives just past the midway point of the LP. While on the surface it’s maybe not the standout track from the album, it feels like a pivotal piece of the puzzle as it showcases a new level to his songwriting which he continues to refine.
The music from the rest of the band is consistently strong throughout and they get their time in the sun on ‘Mantra’ as aside from a couple of short verses it’s largely instrumental which gives another nice and unexpected twist of direction.
Nothing else would be capable of closing ‘Seventeen Going Under’ quite like ‘The Dying Light.’ I’m slightly loathed to reference The Boss again through fear it’ll seem like a lazy comparison or a cheap dig but I mean it in the nicest possible way. There’s an enormous difference between sounding like someone and managing to evoke a similar spirit and feeling of their songs. Fender does the latter here and it’s to his credit, not detriment that these comparisons will likely continue to rear their head.
‘Seventeen Going Under’ carries on down the same path he set off on with ‘Hypersonic Missiles’ but he scales new heights this time. You know that Royal Navy advert that’s been doing the rounds for years about the guy that “left a small town” in the North East and “turned it around”. I always felt that to be unfairly condescending towards the people that continue to live and work there. Sam Fender’s music does the opposite, he speaks candidly but fondly of his hometown and you sense he’s immensely proud of his roots in the same way that everyone in his small town will be immensely proud of him.
Words by Richard Cobb