Album Spotlight: Sam Fender – Hypersonic Missiles
Sam Fender – Hypersonic Missiles
Release date: 9th August 2019
Words: Sammy Sadler and Elena Katrina
Today Sam Fender announces his debut album, Hypersonic Missiles is to be released this Summer. We caught up with him to delve a little deeper into his thoughts on its release; how much input he had into the track listing, how he found recording it and if any of it is reflective of his North East roots.
SS: Was there much of a difference in the recording process between your album and your earlier singles?
SF: “When I know a studio is going to cost a couple of thousand quid a day, it just instantly puts gnarly pressure on me and I get red light syndrome. I used to have to do all my vocals in my mam’s flat when I was recording early songs. So then to conquer that, I had to basically make that more professional.
“So I’ve always done the vocals at home but then obviously we build a studio and that has that similar feel, it’s kind of like home so I can do the vocals in my studio but anywhere else I just panic.“
SS: Have you kept anything on the album that reflects your NE roots?
SF: “There’s a song on [the LP] which is essentially just about my growing up when I was a kid, called The Borders, which, is quite a personal one. It’s definitely got snapshots of some of my life when I was a kid on there.”
SS: How much input did you have with the tracklisting for Hypersonic Missiles?
SF: “I think if I had my way fully, I probably wouldn’t have had a few tracks on there… just because they’re really old. [Ones] that I wrote when I was 19, so they’re a bit more poppy and a bit more embryonic. But, this album’s a debut – it’s a snapshot of the last five years. It starts where I am now and veers off almost into the past, which is kind of like a timeline of the last five years with all the tunes.
“It’s pretty gnarly, the first sort of six tracks are a bit more sonically cohesive and then the second half is like all the older songs. It’s cool man, you can see the progression.
SS: Were there any challenges while working on the album?
SF: “Things like sitting finding the guitar tones and settings, like the sound design of it was pretty tough. We’ve done a lot of synths and undercurrents and things like finding the right sounds in the synths wasn’t easy, it took a while. But I mean, the more you can tell you put into it, the more you get out of it I suppose.”
SS: What else are you hoping will come from the album?
SF: “I’m hoping this album paves the way for us to do many more albums. I want this to be like an introduction and hopefully, you can hear where I’m going to go.
“The first couple of tracks on the album, you can hear where I want to go and the sound I want to go with. Like, Hypersonic Missiles, The Borders, White Privilege, You’re Not The Only One, them songs are where I think I’m at sonically in my head. Whereas the songs like Call Me Lover, for instance, are very embryonic, I wrote them when I was 19. It’s kind of not what I’m about now but it’s a good song nonetheless.”
Hypersonic Missiles Tracklisting
- Hypersonic Missiles
- The Borders
- White Privilege
- Dead Boys
- You’re Not The Only One
- Play God
- That Sound
- Saturday
- Will We Talk In The Morning
- Two People
- Call Me Lover
- Leave Fast
- Use (live)
Listen to the title track Hypersonic Missiles:
poppedmusic 