The lyrics that Passion Pit singer Michael Angelakos sings on their second album Gossamer could be described as anxious, overwhelmed, unhinged, frightened – but always earnest.
What makes the album truly compelling though is the fact that all this singing is accompanied by some of the most thrilling, joyous and widescreen electro-pop music this year.
Sometimes trying but never jarring, the album is acutely aware that darker emotions can sit side by side with positive ones and is all the more inhabitable and listenable for it.
On the album’s highlight track, the passive-aggressive maximalist anthem ‘I’ll Be Alright’, Angelakos derisively sings “You should go if you want to, I’ll be alright” as the song gets jam-packed with overwhelmingly lush synths, chipmunk voices and rolling drums.
‘Hideaway’ starts off with gorgeous electro static and warm keyboards before the band jumps in with sensuous, jumpy synths and a simple and thundering bass line with one of the album’s most sing-a-long choruses.
‘Cry Like A Ghost’ contains the funkiest verse on the album that erupts into a characteristically huge chorus with heartbreaking lyrics.
Full of tortured summer anthems, the band have made a great modern pop album: one that deals with the anxiety that relationships can cause, but one with a big heart that desperately wants to make sense of things and try to feel better.
– Wyatt Lawton-Masi
