Passion Pit: Manners

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Such as the case in music amongst the hip these days –-inflected indie electronica pop seems to be all the rage.  It seems every-day another band is doing the Cut Copy/MGMT thing mixed in with a little Dan Deacon tossed in with some Hot Chip and sprinkle it with Girl Talk and you have a new genre. And that’s ok with Cambridge, Massachusett’s Passion Pit, led by Michael Angelakos  Having formed  in 2007, Passion Pit was awarded as best new act by the Boston Phoenix and  were soon signed to New York City-based Frenchkiss Records.  Now following some heralded early summer festival appearances, Passion Pit has been quickly thrown into the “breakout band” category.

Their full length debut, Manners is fun stuff, mildly annoying, but filled with endless keyboards and studio effects that use the 1980’s as a constant reference point.  Manners’ centerpiece is the bouncy “The Reeling” that is a dance de force, while many fans are already familiar with “Sleepyhead,” a trance jam that blends a little of Animal Collective’s sunny-side experimentation.  It’s a mildly sloppy effort at parts from the ambitious production of a children’s choir chanting “chanting "higher and higher” on “Little Secrets” or Anglakos voice hitting spots that demands “more soul.” Despite these novice moments, Passion Pit have made the perfect album for hipster nation 2009, let’s hope they can keep this retro thing fresh a couple more albums in.

Manners