Passion Pit
Kindred Album Review
Columbia Records
Released April 21, 2015
Genre: Alternative Dance, Synthpop, Indie Pop
Passion Pit was a one-man project of singer and songwriter Michael Angelakos to his girlfriend as a Valentine’s Day present. As the “gift” became popular, Passion Pit became a full-fledged band. Their first album, Manners, was a combination of ’80s synth-pop, children’s choirs, intricate orchestrations, and, of course, Michael Angelakos’ amazing falsetto. In 2012, Gossamer was basically the same as Manners but with more of an emphasis on Angelakos’ emotional writing as one goes through love, pain, death, and joy. In fact, Gossamer contained numerous singles such as “Take a Walk,” “I’ll Be Alright,” and “Constant Conversations.” Also in 2012 came a tell-all story conducted by Pitchfork emphasizing Passion Pit’s frontrunner Michael Angelakos’ mental health and bipolar disorder and its effects on his life and loved ones. Three years later, Passion Pit’s third record, Kindred, is finally out.
Kindred easily portrays Michael Angelakos starting to overcome past trials and tribulations, including his struggle with mental health. As the cover art illustrates, family plays a big role in this album. Everyone can agree that Kindred is Michael Angelakos’ most focused and concise work out of the three albums Passion Pit has put out. One can say that Kindred has strong ties to “Constant Conversations,” slow, and more focused on the lyrics, as opposed to “Mirrored Sea,” which was fast-paced and more focused on the musical aspect (the lyrics can be easily drowned out). Furthermore, there are no oddballs like there were in Gossamer, “Talk a Walk” being one of them. Kindred is Angelakos’ way of showing the world that he is ready to move on to do bigger and better things. In fact, through an interview with Pitchfork, Michael Angelakos reveals that he is no longer working with bandmates Jeff Apruzzese, Nate Donmoyer, and Ayad Al Adhamy, saying that he will gain a new touring group for future shows.
Angelakos’ wife serves as a big inspiration for the production of Kindred. Literally, the first two tracks of Kindred, “Lifted Up (1985)” and “Whole Life Story” go from being thankful to his wife to apologetic for the things he’s done that weakened their relationship. There are even themes and images spread across the album such as light vs dark and sun vs moon/rain, representing the juxtaposition of the up and down nature of his bipolar disorder. “Looks Like Rain” serves as an example of Angelakos’ creativity in illustrating his illness by using the nursery rhyme “Rain, Rain Go Away.” Going off the themes surrounding Kindred, many tracks such as “Five Foot Ten (I)” and “Dancing on the Grave” offer self-realization and can be imagined as the sunrise after a heavy storm or a beautiful summer day with flowers blooming, illustrating Angelakos’ stand to improve on his mental state.
Overall, Kindred showcases Michael Angelakos’ transition from the chaos surrounding him post-Gossamer. It is the most concise album Passion Pit has ever made. However, unlike the first two albums in which the oddball tracks had something to keep a listener’s attention going, Kindred lives and dies on its lyrical strength rather than the instrumentals. “Sleepyhead” is a good example of instrumental and melodic strength over lyrical strength. Listening to Kindred for the first time, one can easily become bored due to the pacing of the songs (slow, lyric heavy), but listening to the album on repeat, one becomes aware of the lyrics’ impact. Michael Angelakos has again succeeded in making an album based off of his deep personal issues and experiences. In all, Kindred is a very good album as it is very concise in sound and illustrates the fact that Michael Angelakos’ personal life is getting better.
FAV TRACKS: LIFTED UP (1985), WHOLE LIFE STORY, WHERE THE SKY HANGS, FIVE FOOT TEN (I), DANCING ON THE GRAVE, LOOKS LIKE RAIN, MY BROTHER TAUGHT ME HOW TO SWIM, TEN FEE TALL (II)LEAST FAV TRACKS: ALL I WANT, UNTIL WE CAN’T (LET’S GO)
