Sam Fender

One Liner: Voice like Brandon Flowers with some good guitar-driven anthems.

Wikipedia Genre: Alternative rock
Home: North Shields, England (which is a dope sounding home town). 

Poster Position: 15

Weekend One Only.

Thoughts: Second song, I just looked up from my work and said "That's fucking Springsteen, man."  Seriously, listen to this one and tell me it isn't the lead singer from The Killers playing with the E Street Band and trying to put one over on me like that John Cafferty guy with "On the Darkside."

Give it until 2:20, then let the Boss flow over you like liquid hot nuclear fire.  Dude was named one of BBC's Sound of 2018 list, including other past and present ACL'ers like Billie Eilish, Sigrid, Lewis Capaldi, and Khalid (Sigrid won, by the way).  

That "Hypersonic Missiles" track is his 2019 single, released in March.  Already 3.3 million streams.  For some reason, as I've continued to sing the song in my mind ever since, I keep changing the lyric to "hypersonic kisses," so it looks like I want love, not war.  No full album for the guy (until August 9), just an EP that collects a handful of his singles he has been releasing since 2017.  And after going through all of these tunes twice, I'm hooked.  This is some good alt rock swagger and a good voice to match - I can see it all being very fun in a crowd.

His top track is a single called "Play God," with 11.9 million streams.

Tense opening, with an ominous bassline and clutched guitar line until the tambourine kicks in and the arena-sized chorus comes out.  Then it opens up even more about 2:50 in, when you can feel the guitar opening up to make space for Fender's voice to fly.  Tight song - not tight like tiiiight/cool, but feels claustrophobic.

So, who is this dude?  His Wikipedia is pretty bare - he's 25, his father and brother are singer-songwriters, he has a few minor acting credits, and "Play God" was used in the FIFA 19 video game.  He's got the jawline and sunken eyes of a model.  Some of his songs contain socially conscious lyrics - "Dead Boys" is about suicide in his hometown, "Play God" about overbearing politicians (I think), and "Hypersonic Missiles" up above is a dark, dark look at how we are all living our lives.  A sampling:

Dutch kids huff balloons in the parking lot
The golden arches illuminate the business park
I eat myself to death, feed the corporate machine
I watch the movies, recite every line and scene
God bless America and all of its allies
I'm not the first to live with wool over my eyes

But the actual sound of the tunes is fist-pumping rock and roll - "That Sound" (which is about a sound he needs to hear to sleep?  Not sure what it is, but the lyrics are a little freaky) has a feedback-laden guitar soaring through it that needs to be released into the wild.

Great stuff - I'd go watch this.