The Song

Passion Pit • Take a Walk

Reader, if you've kept your eye on this space over the past four years (I KNOW—four years is a crazy long time to have been writing a blog...potentially too long), you likely are well-aware of our massive love for the band, Passion Pit.

We first heard Passion Pit when it was still a solo effort, sparked by the songs now-frontman, Michael Angelakos recorded for his then girlfriend as a Valentine's Day gift. Cute, right? Well, they broke up. But the songs fucking rocked—at the time, in 2008, it was unlike anything we had heard before. The closest comparison we could ever draw was a future-rock version of the Jackson Five. Which, yes, is undeniably winning. After releasing the songs as part of an EP—Chunk of Change—in 2008 on French Kiss Records, Angelakos built his out line-up and then, after tireless touring, settled down to record their debut full-length, 2009's Manners, which rocked our socks off. Since then though, things have been pretty quiet on the Boston-based indie disco-rock scene.

Cut to last month, when Passion Pit announced their sophomore release, Gossamer, on July 24. As you would guess, Reader, we were excited, but, you never know—ever hear of the sophomore slump? Well we have, and, depending on the day, we oft trend negative with our predictive imagination. 

But today, the PP, as they're understandably never called, gave us a first listen of the new album with their brand new song, "Take a Walk." Judge for yourself, but it's clearly dashed away any pessimistic clouds of musical forecasting for us. Tinged with a slightly more mature sound in the music and in Angelakos' tone, we think it bodes well for the new work.

And if there's even a small chance at all that the P.S. 22 Chorus makes a repeat appearance on this album, you can go ahead and sign us up for some premature adoration. Below, Michael walks the kids through their recordings for Manners. Oh, and, for you, Reader, we have an added bonus born of our intense crush Passion Pit and their music—a cover of their hit, "Sleepyhead," by british songstress, Ellie Goulding. And if you're REALLY in the mood for dialing it back, check out our super-old review of Passion Pit paired with...a mango-jicama salad on the Discerning Brute.    

Note: Songs posted to this site are kept online for a limited period of time out of fairness to the artists and, you know, our server. So if this is now an older post, the links may well be dead. Buy music!