When Sam Fender released his debut album “Hypersonic Missiles” last year, the North Shields-born artist gained a proper amount of hype and rose to fame quite quickly. Naturally, his fan base has been eagerly awaiting new work from the singer-songwriter. Though the release date for his sophomore album is yet to be announced, the 26-year-old revealed some information about the new record. Fender thinks that the new LP is “miles better” than his first album, he told NME.
The new album is “a much more cohesive piece of work” than “Hypersonic Missiles”, he expressed. And: The new album feels way more like a first album than his actual debut album. “For me, this feels like my first album. [“Hypersonic Missiles”] was a collection of songs over five years, so it’s not sonically cohesive for me”, the indie rock musician explained. His first album rather feels like a Greatest Hits record, despite the fact that it’s his first ever album: “It has songs like ‘The Borders’ and ‘Two People’ that I love and I’m proud of, but the record itself felt more like a ‘Greatest Hits’ before I’d even had any hits!”
Lyrically wise, the follow-up to last year’s album is also quite different, as lyrically “the first one was more looking outwards, and this one’s very much about myself and North Shields and about my friends and family, it’s very much about home.” And even though it was the debut album that rose him to fame, the new album won’t be talking about the new experiences of being famous: “It’s not even about fame; I don’t write about that because I try to stay away from it.”
Sam performing “The Borders” at his social distancing gig! pic.twitter.com/g0rL1FAcGi
— Sam Fender Updates (@FenderUpdates) August 15, 2020
Regarding which album he thinks is better, the hitmaker is sure: “I do think the second album is miles better than the first one, though.” The new songs will be a bit more “morbid” and “introspective, and a bit more Americana-y.” Whilst the first album was mainly influenced by the artists he listened to as a teenager, “with the first record, it’s mirroring a lot of the stuff that I was listening to when I was a teenager – I was just Springsteen-mad back then”, the new record will dig into some new direction.
“There’s still a bit of Springsteen on the second one, always, but there’s also bits of Joni Mitchell, War on Drugs, Pinegrove and Big Thief. All the American shite!” Even though it remains uncertain when the world will get to hear the new LP, there’s a chance of getting to hear it live next year, as Sam Fender had to reschedule his UK tour to 2021.
