Why He's Okay With Knee-Jerk Reactions To Passion Pit

When they released third album, Kindred, Michael Angelakos encouraged his Passion Pit band members to take time out. He had no intention of touring it. Yet that’s just what’s happening. Re-inspired, the frontman changed his mind. It may be a new band, but some things remain the same. “We perform electronic music like a rock band,” Angelakos assures. He favours analogue synths, not pre-recorded tracks.

Passion Pit was always an amorphous group, Angelakos generating the records solo yet recreating them live with others. He cut his first project, 2008’s Chunk Of Change EP, including viral hit Sleepyhead, as a college student. Next came the album Manners. Around the time of Passion Pit’s commercial breakthrough, Gossamer, Angelakos courageously opened up about his bipolar disorder in a harrowing interview with Pitchfork. Suddenly Passion Pit was not merely an electro-pop combo with syncable songs – the anguish in the lyrics was more apparent. 

"I didn’t sever ties or anything like that. I think that’s totally, totally, totally the wrong way to read it"

Reports have suggested that the New Yorker “parted ways” with his old bandmates ahead of Kindred – and he’s anxious to counter any presumed negativity. “I think it’s really easy to take one interview and kind of extrapolate, but the real story is there really isn’t a story!” Angelakos laughs. “First of all, I love all the guys. We didn’t part ways because of anything other than everyone just wanting to do different things.” Touring is a huge commitment – and “intense”. They were all getting older. And, yes, Angelakos’ players had their own needs. “So it wasn’t really about me parting ways with anyone – I didn’t sever ties or anything like that. I think that’s totally, totally, totally the wrong way to read it. I didn’t even think I really wanted to tour on this record. But then I decided, you know what, I think I’m gonna tour.” Gigging with new musicians has been invigorating. “It’s just breathed a whole new life into the project. I didn’t expect it to be as fun as it has been. In fact, it feels like it’s 2007 again, ‘cause it’s all new.”

Kindred is, at points, blithe, poetic, melancholic, dark and… whimsical (Five Foot Ten (I)). The joyful single, Lifted Up (1985), is about his emotional anchor, wife Kristina Mucci. 

“I always wait about six months after a record is released, particularly a Passion Pit record, for people to kind of come around to it. There’s always a knee-jerk reaction with a Passion Pit record because it’s a divisive sound.” Indeed, there is occasionally an unjustifiable cynicism to Passion Pit reviews – which, unlike many musos, Angelakos reads. Ironically, with Kindred, he sought to move beyond Passion Pit’s “maximalism” (“that crazy wall of sound”), “simplifying” his approach. “I just wanted to make a really solid, fun record... For the first time, I set out to achieve something – and I feel like I achieved it relatively well.”