Passenger

Passenger (Press)

Boomerang is already a familiar favourite among Passenger fans. An early demo of the song was posted to social media three years ago, prompting repeated requests for an official release, while the track has also featured in Passenger’s recent live performances. It now takes its place on Wild Love as the oldest song on the album.

Written during lockdown, Boomerang captures the restless frustration of being trapped in repetition while simultaneously looking towards a simpler, more meaningful existence. For Passenger — real name Mike Rosenberg — the song became something more than a reflection of the moment in which it was written. Its yearning for change would ultimately prove remarkably prophetic. “I wrote this song during lockdown (said every musician ever) and poured all of my restless and anxious energy into it,” Rosenberg explains. “I was tired of ‘Groundhog Day’ — the monotony of it all — and tried to boil down the things that I wanted and perhaps didn’t feel that I had at that time. To live a good life, to love and be loved and to feel a sense of inner peace, things that I guess most of us are all striving for. I think that’s what makes the song relatable hopefully.”

Those themes of love, fulfilment and finding peace run throughout Wild Love. What began as a song written from a place of uncertainty and frustration became, in retrospect, something of a harbinger for a completely different chapter in Rosenberg’s life. Since writing it, Passenger has unexpectedly found love, married and become a father, with those experiences and the emotions surrounding them informing the forthcoming record.

The cinematic video for Boomerang reinforces the song’s themes of routine, escape and finding beauty in an apparently ordinary life. Filmed in the picturesque harbour village of Polperro in Cornwall, the film sees Passenger take on the role of a fisherman whose days follow a familiar pattern of early starts, long hours at sea and evenings spent winding down in the local pub. There is an unmistakable sense of repetition to his character’s existence, echoing the song’s lockdown-era frustration with the cycle of “Groundhog Day”. Yet the film also finds something deeply beautiful in that simplicity. Surrounded by the rugged Cornish coastline, hard work and a close connection to the sea become less a symbol of confinement and more an illustration of a life lived with purpose.

The video is directed by Nic Minns, continuing his creative relationship with Passenger following their recent collaboration on the visual for It Was Gonna Be You.

Wild Love promises to explore the personal transformation that sits behind Boomerang, with Passenger turning towards love, family and the changes that come with entering a new phase of life. The album follows his long-established ability to pair intimate songwriting with expansive, emotionally direct melodies, while its title suggests a record concerned as much with the unexpected nature of life as it is with romance.

Passenger has also announced an extensive 2027 Wild Love Tour, taking in Europe before returning to the UK and Ireland in September. The European leg begins in March, travelling through Scandinavia, Germany, France, Belgium and the Netherlands before continuing into Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Poland and the Czech Republic in April. Strong demand has already greeted the tour, with Amsterdam’s AFAS Live recording Passenger’s fastest-ever ticket sales for a show in the city.

The UK and Ireland dates then follow in September, including shows in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Manchester, London, Exeter, Bristol, Birmingham and Brighton.

With Boomerang finally receiving its official release after years of fan anticipation, Wild Love now moves another step closer. For a song written during one of the most uncertain periods of Passenger’s life, its eventual arrival finds Rosenberg in a very different place — one shaped by love, family and the unexpected turns that life can take.

Upcoming UK & Ireland Live Dates:

SEPTEMBER 2027
7th – Dublin, 3Olympia
8th – Belfast, Ulster Hall
11th – Glasgow, O2 Academy
12th – Edinburgh, Usher Hall
14th – Newcastle, O2 City Hall
15th – Manchester, O2 Apollo
17th – London, Eventim Apollo
21st – Exeter, Great Hall
22nd – Bristol, Beacon
24th – Birmingham, O2 Academy
25th – Brighton, Dome

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The Samurai Seven

The Samurai Seven (Press)

That promising trajectory was brought to an abrupt halt when vocalist and guitarist Simon Williams was shot in the eye during a random drive-by attack. Although the NHS was able to save his sight, Williams faced a long recovery before The Samurai Seven eventually returned with their debut album, Le Sport, in 2002. By then, however, the momentum that had surrounded the band had largely disappeared.

More than two decades later, The Samurai Seven are finally getting the opportunity to pick up where they left off. The new Make It Real EP represents a remarkable second chapter for a band whose story could easily have ended after their debut. Rather than simply revisiting their past, though, the four-piece have returned with a collection of new songs that demonstrates that the creative chemistry which originally brought them together remains firmly intact.

The EP has already been previewed by two singles. Punching Down provided an explosive introduction to the band’s comeback, combining layered vocal harmonies with a rampaging pop-punk attack while taking aim at right-wing attitudes. Duck And Cover, meanwhile, revealed a different side to their sound. Pulling back from the band’s trademark 100mph pace, the track is built around swampy guitars and hypnotic urgency, with lyrics that embrace the importance of living in the moment against the backdrop of a world once again haunted by the possibility of global catastrophe. The song draws an implicit connection with the band’s formative years, when the threat of nuclear conflict and the Cold War shaped the world in which they grew up. Decades later, its themes remain uncomfortably relevant.

The two previously unheard songs on Make It Real continue the band’s remarkable return. The title track combines the melodic instincts of 1960s pop with the punch of 1990s power-pop, while its lyrical focus turns towards authenticity and integrity in an increasingly artificial world. Against the backdrop of rapidly developing AI technology, the song questions what it means to remain genuine and human. You Love Me Too Much takes another route into the band’s melodic side, bringing together the immediate pop sensibilities and punk energy that have always defined The Samurai Seven.

Together, the four songs released so far demonstrate a band that has returned with considerably more than nostalgia. While the group’s original sound remains recognisable, Make It Real reflects the experience of several decades away from the spotlight and a renewed enthusiasm for creating something new.

For Williams, the most exciting aspect of the reunion has been discovering that the songwriting process did not feel like an attempt to recreate the past. “Playing together again was so joyful and thrilling,” he says. “I started having new song ideas almost immediately; which was more exciting to us than just rehashing old stuff.” That creative spark was reignited in 2025, when the four members booked a rehearsal simply to see what it would feel like to play together again.

Williams, his brother Matt on vocals and rhythm guitar, bassist and vocalist Jimmy Martin, and drummer Chris Hayward had remained friends despite The Samurai Seven drifting apart following Le Sport. There was initially no grand plan behind the rehearsal – just an opportunity to rediscover the chemistry that had brought them together in the first place. Instead, the session transported them back to their original era, recalling the excitement surrounding their appearances at Radio One’s Oxford Sound City and their recording of the theme for John Peel’s television show Sounds Of The Suburbs.

The joy of playing together again quickly became impossible to ignore. New songs began to emerge, and their quality convinced the band that this was more than a one-off reunion. The Samurai Seven returned to the studio to record what would become Make It Real, working with GRAMMY®-winning producer Hugo Nicolson, whose production credits include Primal Scream, Radiohead and Björk.

The sessions took place at Runway Studios before the completed recordings were mixed at Woodworm Studios in Oxfordshire, the historic studio associated with Fairport Convention. The result is a release that reconnects The Samurai Seven with their original identity while allowing them to embrace the decades of experience that separate their debut from their return.

Their reputation as one of Oxford’s cult indie acts has remained intact in the years since their original run, and the band’s decision to return to the stage has already generated considerable anticipation. They will begin their live comeback with a September appearance supporting The Glorias in Portsmouth before heading out across the UK in November as special guests of The Boo Radleys.

The tour culminates in a particularly significant homecoming on 19th November, when The Samurai Seven headline The Bullingdon in Oxford – bringing the story full circle to the city where the band first established themselves.

After nearly a quarter of a century away, Make It Real is not simply a return to the past. It is The Samurai Seven proving that the chemistry, humour, melodies and sheer energy that made them such an exciting prospect in the late 1990s never really disappeared. The band have simply taken a very long route back to where they belong.

Upcoming UK & Ireland Live Dates:

SEPTEMBER – with The Glorias
20th – Portsmouth, Wedgewood Rooms (with The Glorias)

NOVEMBER – with The Boo Radleys
6th – Manchester, Night & Day
7th – Leeds, Brudenell Social Club
8th – Glasgow, Stereo
13th – Lewes, Con Club
15th – London, Oslo

NOVEMBER – Headline show
19th – Oxford, The Bullingdon

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