People Watching＜Silver Vinyl＞

While sporting a warmer, more euphonious vocal quality and representing Newcastle, U.K. rather than the working class of New Jersey, socially conscious singer/songwriter Sam Fender drew frequent comparisons to major influence Bruce Springsteen with his first two studio albums, both chart-toppers in his homeland. If anything, his third full-length, People Watching, is even more evocative of 80s AOR and peak commercial Springsteen, with saxophone-bolstered arrangements that summon the E Street Band and with help from producers including the War on Drugs Adam Granduciel and Markus Dravs (whose resume includes the likes of such earnest-anthem rockers as Kings of Leon and Coldplay). With Fender staying grounded after his success, People Watching finds him turning his lens away from his formative years (previous album Seventeen Going Under) and outward to the everyday lives of working people. Far from drab or sentimental, the results are often bright, robust, and admiring, an attitude thats established on an opening title track that begins with the words, "I people-watch on the way back home/Envious of the glimmer of hope/Gives me a break from feeling alone." That songs sleek blend of guitars and keys and solid drums underscore just one of the albums many hooky, ardent anthems, this one about noticing "Everybody on the treadmill, runnin" during his travels. Elsewhere, the strings-enhanced midtempo rocker "Chin Up" catalogs the suffering all around (friends in pain, people losing their homes and jobs, a cold newborn) in verses leading up to a striding chorus that nevertheless refuses to minimize ("Chin up, Im dancing to the rhythm of it/Sometimes its healthier to wallow in it"), and the more vulnerable "Rein Me In" powers through both musically and lyrically, only asking, "If I stop, its just pain/Please dont rein me in." As Fender continues to deliver compassionate power hook after hook, not significantly bringing down the energy until the albums hymn-like, orchestral closer ("Remember My Name"), he seems a little more relaxed on People Watching, even indulging in some studio outtakes with his band, and offering comfort and recognition more than a call to action. For those who lived through the 80s, part of that comfort may be the vague, fleeting notion that maybe theyve heard these songs before, something thats at least as much a product of the production values in place as the songs themselves. ~ Marcy Donelson

デビューから2作連続でアルバムが全英1位を記録し、母国UKで絶大な人気を誇るシンガー・ソングライター。このサード・アルバムはウォー・オン・ドラッグスのアダム・グランデュシエルとマーカス・ドラヴス(アーケイド・ファイア、コールドプレイ)に加え、自身も初めてプロデュースに加わった意欲作だ。尊敬するブルース・スプリングスティーンを彷彿とさせるストレートなロックを奏でているが、いい意味で肩の力が抜けており、どことなく余裕を感じさせる。ナイーヴでピュアなヴォーカル、パーソナルと社会問題の両方を取り扱った歌詞も含め、表現力の深みを一段と増した作品だ。
bounce (C)赤瀧洋二