''Whispers'' is the fifth studio album from British singer-songwriter
Passenger. It was released between 6 and 10 June 2015 in different countries through Black Crow Records and
Nettwerk
Nettwerk Music Group is the umbrella company for Nettwerk Records, Nettwerk Management, and Nettwerk One Publishing.
Established in 1984, the Vancouver-based company was created by Nettwerk principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record ...
. The album includes the singles "Scare Away the Dark" and "
Heart's on Fire".
Background
On 26 March 2014 Passenger announced details of his fifth studio album, confirming the UK release date as 9 June 2014. When speaking to ''
Digital Spy'' about the album he said, "This is easily the most 'up' album I've ever made, it's quite cinematic. There are lots of big stories and big ideas. There are also some sombre moments about loneliness and death but hey, it wouldn't be a Passenger album without those." He released "Heart's on Fire" as the lead single from the album on 14 April 2014.
Singles
"
Heart's on Fire" was released as the lead single from the album on 14 April 2014. Talking to
Digital Spy about the song he said, "Heart's on Fire' is a nostalgic song. It's about when the timing with someone isn't right, even though the person might be. And although you're not with that person at the time, there may be a moment in the future where the relationship makes more sense."
Critical reception
''Whispers'' was met with a moderately positive reception from critics. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a
normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7 ...
score of 63, based on 7 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Caroline Sullivan of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave praise to Rosenberg's "snaggle-toothed rasp" delivery throughout the record and the storytelling elements that invoke "characterful observations ("Bullets")" and "striking vignettes ("Riding to New York")".
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
editor Matt Collar gave the "Album Pick" title to the album, praising the instrumentals and lyrics concluding with, "Ultimately, with ''Whispers'', Rosenberg has crafted an album of sweet, hummable anthems for tender-hearted troubadours everywhere."
''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' music critic
Jon Caramanica
Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music.
Biography
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...
gave a mixed review of the album, saying that his voice "can be striking, even if its arsenal is limited," but found most of his lyrics were like a "teenager’s scribbled poems."
Commercial performance
The album debuted at No. 12 on ''Billboard'' 200, No. 5 on Top Rock Albums, selling 18,000 copies in the first week. The album has sold 71,000 copies in the United States as of August 2016.
Album cover
"Whispers" received a 2015 Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package. The art director,
, was also the artist and designer on the album and credits Mike Rosenberg with creating the concept. "Whispers" is the third Passenger album cover created by Sarah Larnach.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2014 albums
Passenger (singer) albums
Nettwerk Records albums