ARTiST: Passenger
TiTLE: Wicked Man's Rest
LABEL: Chalkmark Records
GENRE: Indie
TiME: 41:10 min
SiZE: 54,3 MB
BiTRATE: VBRkbps
RiP DATE: Aug-31-2007
RELEASE DATE: Sep-17-2007
WEBSiTE: n/a
Track List:
01. Wicked Man's Rest 04:21
02. Things You've Never Done 04:34
03. Walk You Home 03:41
04. Stray Dog 03:30
05. Do What You Like 03:54
06. Four Horses 04:09
07. Needle In The Dark 05:03
08. For You 03:24
09. Walk In The Rain 05:18
10. Table For One 03:16
Release Notes:
Passenger came to be when Brighton-based singer Mike
Rosenberg met his song-writing partner, guitar
playing arranger and soundtrack composer Andrew
Phillips, at a Free Burma Campaign benefit gig in
London in 2002. He had blagged a place in the line
up and there, as Horace Andy bonded with his bong,
he and Andrew bonded over a mutual love of hip hop
and traditional country and folk.
A year later Mike and AndrewÆs songwriting
partnership was beginning to blossom. They were soon
joined by kickboxing bassist Marcus OÆDair, Israeli
drummer Alon Cohen and wry keyboardist Richard
Brincklow, who had previously been in a DJ Shadow
cover band with Marcus. You read that right.
Together as Passenger, Mike and Andrew have written
songs that depict a world seen through the eyes of a
cast of outsiders, observing the world and hoping to
explain their struggle. Mike says - ôItÆs about the
characters we try and illuminate through these songs
à all of these low characters are suddenly put up on
a pedestal and their storyÆs being told.ö And he
tells their story with gentle humour, compassion,
wisdom and occasionally anger, and herein lies this
young songwriterÆs incredible talent. The 22 year
old has the rare ability to inhabit these different
personalities so completely and to bring them to
life so vividly, that itÆs virtually impossible not
to be moved by their tales.
With Marcus, Richard and Alon these stories have
been set against a backdrop of an extraordinary
blend of acoustic folk in the storytelling
tradition, and an epic-yet-intimate,
electronica-influenced modernity, suffused with
pain, sadness and precocious wisdom, yet completely
free of defeatist miserablism. AndrewÆs cinematic
production style perfectly mirrors in its style and
array of sounds the depth of the stories and the
intimacy of the characters Mike has created with his
lyrics.
The album is littered with intriguing songs,
musically and lyrically. Upcoming single æDo What
You LikeÆ is built round a circular, frenetic riff
adorned with electronic bleeps over a skittering
beat that is as unpredictable as it is captivating.
This leads to a chorus that is at the same time
angry and yearning, and reminiscent of ôMurmurö-era
REM. Here the central character is being strung
along by the woman whom he loves but it is
unrequited: æCosÆ I give you my all, and you give
nothing to me.Æ ThereÆs a touch of sardonic humour
running throughout the song and true essence of this
bittersweet story is reached as Mike desperately
shouts ôD-D-Do What You Like to meö- and the story
is left unresolved.
æWicked ManÆs RestÆ is a darkly beautiful after
hours heartbreaker of a song. Its shattered and
disjointed style relates to a sample it features of
Allen Ginsberg despairing about consumerism and the
song itself is an emotional response to the
experience of living in the contemporary world.
æWalk You HomeÆ, with its metronomic beats and spry
acoustics starts off sounding like a tale of
unrequited love as the protagonist says: `I see you
nearly everyday but you donÆt see meÆ. The warmth of
the romantic rhythm matched with RosenbergÆs
nostalgic vocal distracts from the grim reality of
whatÆs really going on. It manages to be upbeat and
funny yet simultaneously darkly sinister.
Another highlight is æTable For OneÆ. Once again,
Mike writes with extraordinary empathy for a
character who would not otherwise have a voice. ôIt
was written while sitting in a pub in London waiting
to go on stageö, says Mike. ôWe just noticed all
these middle aged men drinking alone and not wanting
to go home and wanted to try and understand whatÆs
behind thatö. æI was twenty-one when I wrote it and
a lot of people have said that itÆs beyond my
years.Æ says Mike ôBut itÆs not about my own
experience. ItÆs about inhabiting a character.ö
Always moving, always observing and forever privy to
brief snapshots of human life in all its forms,
thatÆs Passenger.