Passenger’s latest studio album has been performing well in the charts since its release on the 8th January and has now reached number 2 on the UK official album charts, behind The Bee Gees’ Barry Gibb’s ‘Greenfields‘ The Gibb Brothers Songbook Vol.1.’ Despite attracting some harsh reviews, with The Independent stating that it ‘adds nothing new to the overladen canon,’ of breakup albums, the chart success indicates a less critical audience response. While it could be said that the triumph of this album is more an indication of the loyalty of fans won by breakout hits like ‘Let Her Go,’ which has now been streamed over a billion times on Spotify than about the new album, with leading single ‘Sword from the Stone,’ already reaching a million streams in just a couple of weeks, this does seem to suggest some measure of positivity in the response to the latest effort.
The album’s cover features a depressed looking clown clutching a bottle of whisky with some colourful balloons floating discordantly behind him on a a pale pastel background. This imagery is a somewhat suitable summary of the mood of this album which centres around love loss and heartbreak. Tracks like ‘Nothing Aches Like a Broken Heart,’ are the perfect examples of this downtrodden mood which is only brightened by the dusty sweet tone of the Brightonian’s vocal take.
The production on ‘Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted,’ is nostalgically full and rich and harkens back to the early days of passenger when Mike Rosenberg was still accompanied by a full band. Fans of the intimate, busker-style performances which define favourites like ‘Let Her Go,’ will not be disappoint though as the album’s deluxe version includes acoustic versions of all of the ten new tracks which have all the indie-folk energy that his loyal fans are so fond of. While it is hard to say at this stage if any of the tracks on this album will be the next ‘Let Her Go,’ the strongest contender so far does seem to be ‘Sword from the Stone,’ which has the radio friendly lyrics and uplifting vocals that could make a great January hit.
‘Sword form the Stone,’ is the fourth single released from Passenger’s new album and the first to be released after the turn of 2021. While the lyrics are somewhat downbeat, the track is nonetheless suitable with muted optimism to strike a chord with the beleaguered British public who have seen through a difficult 2020 and continue to struggle through a very challenging start to 2021. Passenger has UK tour dates scheduled for 2021, however these are subject to Covid-19 delays and it is recommended to keep abreast of government advice before ordering tickets. Full dates are as follows:
26/08/2021 – Ulster Hall – Befast
30/08 – Usher Hall – Edinburgh
31/08 – Barrowland – Glasgow
2/09 – O2 Apollo – Manchester
4/09 – Rock City – Nottingham
7/09 – O2 Academy – Bristol
8/09 – O2 Academy Brixton – London
