Passion Pit’s new album Gossamer , released on iTunes July 23, is the Massachusetts-based band’s best studio album to date. Although the singles on this latest record aren’t all that much better than those from the rest of Passion Pit’s repertoire, the album as a whole works in a way Manners and Chunk of Change couldn’t quite manage.
I’m not normally an avid supporter of electro-pop — I try to stay synth-free most of the time — but there’s something about this music that allows it to suit just about any state of mind.
Take, for example, the album’s first single, “Take a Walk.” The chorus is catchy, the beat is simple and the synth line is predictable yet interesting. But when you actually listen to the lyrics (an optional activity for the majority of their songs), you realize it’s about the hardships of immigrating to America, raising a family and staying afloat financially. In my favorite of the song’s memorable lines, lead vocalist Michael Angelakos sings, “Honey it’s your son / I think I borrowed just too much / We had taxes / we had bills / we had a lifestyle to front.” Passion Pit has a knack for this kind of lyrical complexity hidden beneath a veil of mesmerizing orchestration and impressively unwavering falsetto, and with this album, they’ve executed it perfectly.
What surprised me the most about the record is the way the tracks relate to the album much like chapters relate to a book. There is a seamless transition between two of the album’s finest tracks. “Two Veils to Hide My Face,” the ninth track on Gossamer, is a 34-second Imogen Heap-ish invocation to nature. The last two lines of the track, “Don’t answer any prayers they have / just lift our calloused hearts with the bursting rays of August / and your cold rain drops of March”, end on an unresolved chord, making the immediate segue to track 10, “Love is Greed,” flawless.
Nothing about this album is out of place. If you’re looking for a record to make you feel uplifted and melancholy at the same time (something I, for one, am in constant search of), Gossamer should be your first choice.
Highs:
Take a Walk
I’ll Be Alright
Two Veils to Hide My Face/Love is Greed
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