Sam Fender - Hypersonic Missiles review: Stuck in the Springsteen mould, but surely going places

Propulsive: Sam Fender
David Smyth13 September 2019

The idea that a guitar could be your ticket away from a small grey town has held for decades in music, from Bruce Springsteen’s tramps who were Born to Run, to Rock ’n’ Roll Star by Oasis (a dream, not a reality, when it was written) all the way to Jake Bugg’s Two Fingers.

North Shields resident Sam Fender, this year’s winner of the Brits critics’ choice award, seems to fit the mould on his debut album at first, especially given that his hollering voice and propulsive rock energy resemble Springsteen’s to such an extent that there’s even a muscular sax solo at the end of You’re Not the Only One. However, it’s telling that despite the 25-year-old’s major label record deal, he hasn’t swapped the north-east for London yet. He already did the triumphant giant homecoming show thing at Tynemouth Castle in July.

On the title track, he sings: “I have no answers, only questions.” He’s a portrait painter, going for state of the nation songwriting on Dead Boys, which tackles the rise in male suicide rates, and Play God, which is about arrogant politicians. The musically unambitious White Privilege still manages to cover the patriarchy, liberal arrogance and, yes, Brexit across its three-and-a-half minutes.

He’s not singing about escape but about being stuck, which makes the small pleasures — the weekend intoxication of Saturday, the one-night stand described in the euphoric Will We Talk? — all the more fun. Once he broadens his musical horizons and steps out from under his influences, he’ll really be going places.

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