Passenger – otherwise known as Michael Rosenberg – became an overnight sensation with his 2012 single Let Her Go, which was nominated for the Brit Award for British Single of the Year in 2014, and received the British Academy’s Ivor Novello Award for most performed work. It also went to number one in no fewer than sixteen countries – it was, in every sense, a smash hit record.

Rosenberg didn’t rest on his laurels, however. A prolific songwriter, he’s released an album a year since 2014’s Whispers, and he’s got 2021’s effort in super early with his new release Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted, his twelfth studio album. As you can probably guess from the title, it is a breakup record, and it’s a monster of a breakup record at that, serving up a mammoth twenty tracks for our enjoyment.

Opening track Sword From The Stone is a great start, a melodic number laden with rich piano and Passenger’s distinctive warm vocals that explore the idea of how difficult it can be to let go. Tip Of My Tongue is among the more upbeat tracks here, while The Way That I Love You is a sweet finger-picked acoustic lament.

Elsewhere Remember To Forget features some suitably maudlin horns, and Suzanne arguably marks the album’s melancholy summit, a stripped-back affair licked with violins and soft, slow drums. Curiously, the second half of the album features acoustic re-workings of much of what has come before, with Nothing Aches Like A Broken Heart perhaps the track that gains the most from this treatment.

It’s a nice treat for fans, and an interesting insight into the genesis of these songs which, in total, add up to an engaging and rewarding record.

Songs For The Drunk And Broken Hearted tracklist:

1. Sword From The Stone

2. Tip Of My Tongue

3. What You’re Waiting For

4. The Way That I Love You

5. Remember To Forget

6. Sandstorm

7. A Song For The Drunk And Broken Hearted

8. Suzanne

9. Nothing Aches Like A Broken Heart

10. London In The Spring

11. London In The Spring (Acoustic)

12. Nothing Aches Like A Broken Heart (Acoustic)

13. Suzanne (Acoustic)

14. A Song For The Drunk And Broken Hearted (Acoustic)

15. Sandstorm (Acoustic)

16. Remember To Forget (Acoustic)

17. The Way That I Love You (Acoustic)

18. What You’re Waiting For (Acoustic)

19. Tip Of My Tongue (Acoustic)

20. Sword From The Stone (Acoustic)

We recently interviewed Passenger, you can read this here.

Watch the official video for Sword From The Stone below:

Author: Joe Sharratt

Joe Sharratt is a writer and journalist based in the UK covering music, literature, sport, and travel.