Passenger

"I see you nearly every night/I see you when you’re down in your house/With my night vision binoculars I creep quiet as a mouse," sings twentysomething Mike Rosenberg on "Night Vision Binoculars," a high spirits ode to—what else?—stalking. Rosenberg, along with the boys that make up UK alt-pop act /Passenger., touched down stateside, releasing this track and two more in late June as part of a digital EP sampler. Now, hot on its catchy heels, comes their full-length offering, Wicked Man's Rest.

Big on tongue-in-cheek lyrics, tender electronics and guitar-driven melodies, Rest is a sparkling collection of expertly produced ear candy. Very sweet, yes. But given the fact that the album's most radio-friendly track might need a restraining order, /Passenger.'s songs are far from fluffy. "Things You've Never Done" and "Table for One" strike similar poses of missed opportunity, while "Do What You Like" offers a scathing "screw you" to a lousy love. Throughout, the emphasis is placed on not only crafting a killer hook (there are plenty), but also skillfully telling a story. The band pulls it off well. I mean, you were humming "Night Vision Binoculars" before you actually realized how creepy the song really was, weren’t you? Credit, then, to Rosenberg and his fresh depth and delivery. We only needed to get three minutes and 30 seconds into the title track, where he breaks out like a smoother David Gray, to realize this was one kid we wouldn't mind following us home.

—Matthew Allard
08.11.08

There are times when English-speaking listeners can't tell whether or not an alternative pop/rock band is British. Bands from Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham, York, or Newcastle-upon-Tyne don't necessarily sound like they're from England; some British bands sound like they could just as easily be from Seattle or Minneapolis. But other British bands have a distinctly U.K. sensibility; Oasis, Suede, Radiohead, and Coldplay immediately come to mind. And on their debut album, Wicked Man's Rest, Brighton, England's Passenger favor a tuneful, alternative pop/rock approach that is unapologetically British-sounding. It isn't just the melodic and harmonic influence of the Beatles as well as more modern U.K. icons like Coldplay and Radiohead; it's also the lyrics that Passenger's lead singer Mike Rosenberg writes -- lyrics that often have a dry, witty sense of humor that is recognizably British. That isn't to say that Rosenberg goes out of his way to ignore non-British artists; in fact, Passenger's website describes him as "a singer/songwriter reared on Bob Dylan, Neil Young and Van Morrison," which means that he grew up listening to Americans (Dylan), Canadians (Young), and Irishmen (Morrison). But Brit-pop is the dominant influence on clever tracks such as "Night Vision Binoculars," "Four Horses," and "Needle in the Dark"; Wicked Man's Rest falls on the Brit-pop side of alternative pop/rock, and that's a positive thing because Rosenberg is obviously good at what he does. Wicked Man's Rest is mildly inconsistent, but overall, this is a promising and attractive debut from Rosenberg and his colleagues. ~ Alex Henderson, Rovi