Those wanting a sound different to previous record Seventeen Going Under are in for a treat. Sam Fender may have pigeonholed himself into the north east flickers of Americana rock but developing this tone, and hearing where it can take him, is the point of People Watching. Slower ballad-like constructs where the acoustic chimes are not front and centre but right in the back of your ear, the build of a man trying to rip at the caricatures and cladding found in anecdotal lies. For a man who has provided truth in his tone and writing since his debut, Hypersonic Missiles, the choice of sincerity now becomes a closely guarded tool. Few in the genre can maintain those tones, and Fender comes across as genuine as ever on second single, Wild Long Lie. A charmed song filled with the instrumental advances expected of the alternative rock staple.
Wild Long Lie ties well with People Watching, the sister songs of leaving town on this new single and returning home after an unspecified time away on the title track of his third album. Relatable work from Fender, but describing it as such reduces the impact, and the quality heard in his writing. He again makes the most of those at-home worries, the perspectives of a man alienated by his hometown. Many may feel that way if their ideas are bigger than those of the villages or towns that hold us there. Wild Long Lie is a song of escapism. Not some dreamy view of packing up and moving on but a song adjacent to desperation and a fiery, unbreakable desire to up sticks and head out in search of a future. Crucial to this is the moments, minutes even, where listeners can think for themselves on their best course of action.
As grand a call to arms as any, Wild Long Lie has a brutal guitar solo, long enough to consider whether the life you have now is the right one for you. Fender already has more than a few punchy highlights in his discography, and so hearing the call of slick guitar solos, of broad strokes on an impassioned fret offensive, is wonderful. Another layer to add to those reflective tones so clearly tied to the Fender image. Those inevitable saxophone notes feel like a mandatory clause rather than something riotously exciting now, though, and are slipping ever so slowly towards uninspired. But the rest of the song is intact, incredible in its desire to inspire. Whether it does is not up to Fender, but the listener. He has shown them the blueprint for happiness in escapism, just follow those steps.
From its slick instrumental middle to the preceding lyrical complexities of finding the end of your tether and acting with some new sense of purpose, Wild Long Lie is a powerful piece for those who need to hear it. For those who find themselves without the pressure necessary to take the leap, to move themselves in some new and reactive way. Wild Long Lie is not so much the reactor but the aftermath, a chance to glimpse life in the immediate process of moving on to those next moments. For Fender it comes at a time when he must make good on the promises, he holds himself and his audience to on Seventeen Going Under. By the sounds of it, he has succeeded once more.
