People Watching

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 résumé 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 that