Sweeter than ‘Mary Poppins’ spoon full of sugar, in fact sweeter than the whole bag of sugar is ‘Passion Pits’ debut album ‘Manners’. The saccharine really does help this medicine go down. It’s a pick ‘n’ mix bag of goodies, a rare slice of alternative pop that cavorts with stylistic elements scattered across a spectrum of genres. This kaleidescope of music, whirls, glimmers and excites with each turn. Ever since I first saw Passion Pit live (a superb live show) I knew there and then that this band were destined to capture this year in music. It’s summer, it’s childhood, enchanting rainbows, fairytale, fruit-drop musical goodness. This album will make people smile like the Cheshire cat, granted it can cause your face to stick in abnormal contortions if exposed for long periods of time, but it’s a price worth paying.
‘Sleepyhead’ is the only soul surviving track from the EP ‘Chunk of Change’ that has been doing the rounds for some time and it’s arguably the best track on this album. It has twinkling percussion, a whip cracking snare, the darkest feeling bassline on the whole album and synths that zip around like the summer dance of a honey-bee. The album opens with the upbeat synth driven ‘Make Light’. It gives the listener their first taste of lead singer ‘Michael Angelakos’ glass shatteringly, dog-scaringly high falsetto. ‘Make Light’ whips up great excitement of what’s to come. Enter the groove on ‘Little Secrets’, the BPM drops and reveals a lovely bassline, almost hip-hop like rhythm section and funk inspired synth. It’s here we’re first introduced to the childrens choir that features a lot throughout the album.
Taking another direction yet again is ‘Moths Wings’ which begins with epic keys and synth and percussion that replicates the beating of a heart. Layered beautifully, everything in the track stands out, every layer enchants and dispenses its magic. Festival audiences will eat this for breakfast. The beauty of this album is that three amazing songs in and we’re still yet to hit the single and the real gem of the lot ‘Sleepyhead’ lies dormant at the rear of the pack ready to ice this marvelous musical treat. For those unfamiliar with the ‘Chunk of Change’ EP, they surely will have been exposed to the singler ‘The Reeling’ which has kind of a chilled out disco feel with 80’s drum machine hits and classic 4/4 beat. Probably the most dancefloor friendly song on the album, hence it’s rapid re-working from producers such as ‘Calvin Harris’.
If your looking for a soundtrack to your summer then look no further than this, it makes ‘Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince’s’ ‘Summertime’ sound like the depressed ballad of ‘Morrissey’ and ‘Britney Spears’ suicidal love child. Pop music of the highest order from front to back, it’s just bad manners not to listen.
Listen to Manners of Spotify here…
Buy Manners here…
Passion Pit MySpace
