''Young as the Morning Old as the Sea'' is the seventh studio album by

Passenger A passenger is a person who travels in a vehicle, but does not bear any responsibility for the tasks required for that vehicle to arrive at its destination or otherwise operate the vehicle, and is not a steward. The vehicles may be bicycles, ...

. It was released on 23 September 2016 on Black Crow Records. It topped the

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in the UK and other countries. A deluxe edition was released containing six additional acoustic versions of songs appearing on the album. The album was produced by Chris Vallejo and

Mike Rosenberg Michael David Rosenberg (born 17 May 1984), better known by his stage name Passenger, is an English indie folk singer, songwriter and musician. From 2003 to 2009, Rosenberg fronted a band by the same name; he opted to keep the Passenger moniker ...

Background

On 17 June 2016, Passenger announced details of his seventh studio album on

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, confirming that the album would be released in September 2016. He also announced that the deluxe version of the album would include a documentary and some acoustic bonus tracks. The landscapes in both New Zealand and on a trip Passenger took in Iceland lent inspiration to the creation of a newly panoramic album, with themes of relationships and the passing of time that are at once personal and universal. The album was recorded in

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and

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. Canadian group

The Once The Once is a folk trio based in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. The group features Geraldine Hollett on lead vocals and vocalist-instrumentalists Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale playing a variety of instruments. The group performs a mix of ori ...

, who joined Rosenberg on his Whispers tour, contributed backing vocals on the album.

Singles

Somebody's Love "Somebody's Love" is a song by English singer-songwriter Passenger. The song was released as a digital download on 17 June 2016 in the United Kingdom, as the lead single from his seventh studio album, '' Young as the Morning, Old as the Sea'' (201 ...

" was released as the lead single from the album on 17 June 2016.Somebody's Love - Single by Passenger on Apple Music
/ref> " Anywhere" was released as the second single from the album on 19 August 2016. The song has peaked at number 43 on the

Australian Singles Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian record chart, music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA beca ...

. "Young As The Morning, Old As The Sea" was used as a part of the official soundtrack for the 2017 German movie '; in particular this single was used as a background music for the last scenes of the film and for the end credits.

Critical reception

''Young as the Morning Old as the Sea'' has received generally mixed to negative reviews from critics. Reviewing for AllMusic, Matt Collar commented, "Ultimately, with Young as the Morning Old as the Sea, Passenger has crafted an album that, not unlike the oceans, fields, roads, and relationships that inspired it, remains with you, calling you to return." David Smyth of the ''

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'' wrote, "As Passenger, the solo artist achieved a slow-burning worldwide hit with his pretty break-up song Let Her Go, and has followed it with similarly tasteful fare. Here his piano duet with Birdy, Beautiful Birds, and the gentle guitar ballad The Long Road, are pleasant but forgettable. Rosenberg’s voice is meek throughout, even when he has a powerful band to sing over on Home. The Paul Simon-style jangle of Anywhere and lively horns of If You Go provide the most entertaining backdrops for songs that too often stray towards blandness." Reviewing for ''

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'', Chris Owen said, "It’s a struggle to believe, while wading through his seventh studio album, that Passenger was responsible for Let Her Go, the song most of Britain spent six months humming in 2012. There isn’t a single singalong number trying to set up camp in your temporal lobe on Young As the Morning Old As the Sea – it seems that in his hurry to vacate the trodden ground of campfire pop, Michael Rosenberg hasn’t really planned where to go. Most of the songs here are almost identical, and the ones that manage to stand out are perfectly fine jaunts into well-cultivated sonic territories. The collaboration with Birdy is nice enough, as are the old fashioned trad-folk sounds of Everything – and that’s the thing: it’s all nice. All this from the man who used to run rings around your brain." Lauren Murphy of ''

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'' wrote, "His “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach means that songs such as Everything and Fool’s Gold lumber pleasantly but forgettably along, while the addition of Birdy on vapid duet Beautiful Birds makes scant difference. Anywhere and If You Go are perkier affairs, but there is little in the way of “edgy” here, along with some criminally bad lyrical rhymes. Rosenberg remains a Passenger in all senses, allowing others to call the tune while he travels in their mind-numbingly ordinary wake."

Accolades

Track listing

All tracks were written by Mike Rosenberg.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2016 albums Passenger (singer) albums Albums recorded at Roundhead Studios