The voice of Sam Fender, in more ways than one, is like a distant clarion call for the disenfranchised. Riding on the coattails of a successful album like Hypersonic Missiles (2019), pre-pandemic Fender was taking the world by storm. The march was cut short by COVID-19, when everyone was stuck at home. This led to the creation of his October 2021 release Seventeen Going Under, an introspective record of the same epic sound that is becoming a characteristic of this young singer-songwriter’s music. 

This hour-long album speaks of his relationship with his father, the socio-political milieu of the modern world, his working-class upbringings and the tumultuous life in North Shields, England. The album echoes Springsteen-esque common man languish, with traces of Tom Petty’s trademark big sound. The lyricism is incomparable to any modern record in the genre, with biting criticism of the government and its attempts at undermining the working class.