Passion Pit: Manners (French Kiss)

Prepare for the serotonin rush that is Passion Pit. The Cambridge,
Mass., quintet has found a much-needed middle ground between the adult
keyboard pop of MGMT and The Postal Service, and the more youthful
synth ebullience of The Go! Team and Hellogoodbye. Breathless bloggers
have made it difficult for the band to live up to its 2008 EP, Chunk
of Change, but it accomplishes this handily with its debut
full-length, Manners, arguably the happiest hipster record
you’ll ever hear.

The album is remarkable on a few levels, its consistent euphoria
aside. By all rights, we should be tired of the ’80s-evoking electro
sound, but this isn’t merely music via Powerbook; keyboards, drums,
bass and the occasional guitar create a multi-genre dynamic similar to
what you’re currently enjoying on that new Yeah Yeah Yeahs record.
Every song possesses an undeniable hook or two, and not in that
annoying Top 40 way. And even when singer Michael Angelakos waxes his
most melancholic, he ultimately offers aural comfort thanks to the
foundation of goose-pimpling synths and celebratory beats. “Look at me
/ is this the way I’ll always be?” he asks on the otherwise blissed-out
anthem “The Reeling.”

Not for nothing does Angelakos call veteran songsmith Randy Newman
as much of an influence to him as Italian disco innovator Giorgio
Moroder. The still-going electro pop movement is still suffering from a
shortage of real songwriters to herald; Angelakos helps fill that void
quite ably.

This article appears in May 28 – Jun 3, 2009.