Album Review : All The Little Lights by Passenger
All The Little Lights is the fourth studio album by English singer-songwriter Passenger.
Review
Artist : Passenger
Album : All The Little Lights
Date Released : 24 February 2012
Passenger began as an English quintet in the early 2000s with Mike Rosenberg as their frontman. After the release of their debut album ‘Wicked Man’s Rest in 2007’, four of the original band members moved on, which then changed to a solo project by Mike Rosenberg. The singer and multi-instrumentalist independently released three additional albums under the Passenger sobriquet prior to All The Little Lights.
Heavy guitar elements are embedded throughout the songs, accompanied by heartfelt lyrics and intimate singing, which makes the album sound notably soothing yet full of passion and wholehearted. However, Rosenberg’s wordplay, clever rhymes, and humor distinguishes him from fellow musicians lumped into the expansive “singer/songwriter” category.
Track-by-track analysis
‘Things That Stop You Dreaming’ is the first single, and it starts with a comforting sound of violin mixed with sorrowful strings which provides a great intro for Rosenberg’s sweet delivery. His lyrical composition consist of sentiments about how the struggles of being poor shouldn’t stop you from feeling rich in other ways. The song’s chorus — ‘’if you can’t get what you love, you learn to love the things you’ve got’’- highlights his philosophy on life and happiness.
‘Let Her Go’, gives a calm mellow ambiance with slow violin playing throughout the song and its delicate piano adds a lot to its impact. Here we lay emphasis on the lyrics “you only need the light when it’s burning low, only miss the sun when it starts to snow, only know you love her when you let her go”. It primarily tells us to appreciate every little thing we have in our lives because we don’t know what we have until it’s gone.
In “Staring At The Stars” it has an upbeat vibe as well as its banjo and horns. It gives the album a wider range of musical depth. His vocal changes a bit which makes it lively and fun.
When you get to ‘’All the little lights’’, it justifies the theme of the album. There is a sudden slowdown in terms of the tracklist. His vocals lay perfectly on the guitar arpeggios coupled with the piano.
In ‘’The Wrong Direction’’, there are pop beats and a folk guitar atmosphere, where it raises your feel for the album. The lyrical content for this song is heartfelt and simple — “Cause I’d love to feel love, but I can’t stand the rejection, I hide behind my jokes as a form of protection”. He tells the listener about the feeling of being down and low as if we’re nothing until we’re everything to the world.
“Patient Love” has a swinging and wistfully romantic theme. It’s the kind of song you’d listen to with your partner to rekindle your love.
The album ends with a bit of humor with ‘’I Hate’’. It was live recorded at The Borderline in London and consists of all the silly little things that Rosenberg and probably many of us find it to be unfavorably annoying. It closes the album with an appreciated change in tone and direction.
Final Thoughts
Unequivocally, ‘All The Little Lights’ is a great work of art. Its production, songwriting, and performance are well on point. The album is perfect for adult contemporary/indie Brit-pop/acoustic-guitar lovers, or anyone that’s just looking for some soothing background music.
