Review Summary: Bringing an old era to a new age.
Remember /Passenger？ Probably not, as it was the previous incarnation of Passenger back in 2007. Originally, when it started, /Passenger was a four piece Alternative Rock band that was founded in 2003. Of course, the band never got a chance to release an album until 2007, and Mike Rosenberg's displeasure with the final product convinced him to disband the group and go solo. Thus, Passenger was born. Of course Mike is heavily recognized for his chart topping single
Let Her Go, and now most people associate him for his acoustic arrangements and soft voice. This is why most new fans of Passenger will be very surprised by his newest effort
Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea. Most of the album contains numerous new arrangements from electric guitars, to Symphonic Rock elements, to violins and trumpets. Many will proclaim this as Passenger evolving his sound, but it is actually the opposite as he has done this all before. No doubt, die-hard fans will point out that their debut album
Wicked Man's Rest was styled in the same manner; with complex guitar arrangements, exorbitant amount of instruments, and symphonic tendencies. No doubt, with
Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea, Passenger is bringing an old era to a new age in beautiful fashion.
To be fair, the acoustic guitar has not been fazed out, as he continues to use it to the same degree as he always has.
Fool's Gold is almost entirely acoustic, as Rosenberg speaks an analogy of broken promises and the gold we all search for but never get in our lives.
Everything also features the acoustic as a major piece, but also leaves room for a soft violin piece to come in and amplify the song.
Beautiful Birds and
The Long Road are also acoustic. It should also be noted that the deluxe edition contains six acoustic versions of his most complex songs. As with many other tunes, Passenger seems to be opting for more complex arrangements and more instruments.
If You Go is a Soft Rock ballad with excellent percussion and beautiful singing.
When We Were Young utilizes an electric guitar for most of the song and
Home is led by a piano among other instruments.
With
Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea, Rosenberg embraces the beauty of complexity, without compromising the qualities that made him famous. He is still soft spoken, his lyrics still tinged with a depressing truth, and he continues to use that damn acoustic guitar. That shouldn't take away from the quality of the album itself, which is by far one of his best.
Somebody's Love is a breathtaking track containing a soft drum piece with most of the song dominated by heavy Symphonic element as an electric guitar echoes in a soft and almost psychedelic manner. Lyrically, Rosenberg is still a concise and emotional writer, with
Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea's lyrics ranking as one of Rosenberg's most engrossing and emotional pieces as he sings of beautiful lands he would got to and his want to be like those lands in a metaphorical synchronicity:
I wanna lay by a lake in Norway, I
I wanna walk through Swedish fields of green
I wanna see the forests of Finland, I
I wanna sail on a boat on the Baltic sea
I wanna feel the Russian winter, I
I wanna go to my Polish grandmother's home
I wanna see Hungarian lanterns, I
I wanna walk on the road that leads to Rome
I wanna be free as the winds that blow past me
Clear as the air that I breath
To be young as the morning
And old as the sea
The best track on the album should be given to
Anywhere, a tropical styled electric guitar song with some of Rosenberg's most enticing vocals and evocative descriptions of meadows, hills, and rainbows. It is a elegantly arranged as well, with a combination of drums, electric guitar, and trumpets creating an epic tune that can leave the listener unintentionally jovial.
Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea is the return of an era not many modern fans of Passenger know about. At a time when epic and soft danced in such paradoxical beauty, Mike crafts a return to the days of
Wicked Man's Rest and shows his new fans that he can do much more than he has advertised. It is soft, creative, and gorgeous to listen to. Perhaps, in some way, this is the debut album that Passenger wanted to make back in 2007, but never got to. In some way, this can be seen as a redemption for him, as he returns to a place he'd like to forget. At 32 years of age, Passenger doesn't consider himself "old" yet, but he does show that he has learned much since his worked with three others nine years ago. In that way, Mike Rosenberg is as young as the morning, and as old as the sea.
