I often like it when two artists collaborate and I am thrilled if it happens to be a collaboration between two good artists but when Passenger and Birdy collaborate I am simply on cloud nine.
That was my feeling the first time I listened to “Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea”; the latest addition to what is already a brilliant singer/songwriter career for Passenger.
True, most people just got sick of Passenger’s “Let Her Go” and put him in the 1-Hit Wonder list to never revisit him again. You see, in a world where the Top 1% of artists commands 77% of all recorded revenue, it is tough for a musician who started out playing in 500-seater venues across Australia to overcome a #1 hit that was featured everywhere, even in a Budweiser Super Bowl commercial, and ranks 18th amongst the most streamed Spotify tracks with a whopping 512 Million plays to date.
I have a feeling Passenger himself felt so trapped in the “Let Her Go” success that he followed with a couple of beautiful experimental albums (Whispers & Whispers II) which he describes as “quite cinematic and full of big stories and big ideas…” but, perhaps more moving is that 1) he announced Whispers during his set at the Teenage Cancer Trust charity concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London and 2) he donated all profits from Whispers II to the UNICEF UK initiative to help children in Liberia. That is when I realized this is not just a guy committed to write beautiful lyrics for money and fame.
As for "Beautiful Birds", Passenger unveiled the song in Aug 2015 during a visit to Italy where he recorded the video shown below:
To my surprise, he finally released the song in collaboration with Birdy, a talented British youngster who recently released her third album “Beautiful Lies” featuring hit songs like “Words” and “Wild Horses”. Simply put, my favorite rising alt-rock artist. Check her out and some of the blogs that have been written about her by fellow Kurrent Music bloggers.
I suspect I will never be able to enjoy Passenger in an intimate setting or small venue ever again but this new album, and especially Birdy, puts Passenger exactly where he needs to be as an artist.
