Album Review: Passion Pit - Gossamer

Passion Pit
Gossamer
Rating: Woof Daddy

Where Passion Pit's debut album Manners was a technicolor Disney cartoon, follow up Gossamer is the Pixar animated 3-D IMAX extravaganza. The album is both brighter, darker, subtler, over-the-top, and basically every other dichotomy you can imagine. In lesser hands, this approach would come across as schizophrenic and slap-dash, however, lead singer Michael Angelakos along with Manners producer Chris Zane have all the balls in the air and masterfully keep them at play. The album veers wildly between electro-pop raveups, everything but the kitchen sink production numbers, to beautiful takes on modern R&B, all of it anchored by Angelakos' supple voice. Where in the past he could lean too heavily on his screeching falsetto, here, it is used sparingly, allowing Angelakos to use his wide range to excellent effect, bringing out subtle nuances throughout.

Gossamer is structured almost like a musical, starting out with strong numbers, moving through a sea of emotions, ebbing and flowing perfectly, reaching a strong crescendo, before heading out into uncharted waters. Not that there is really any sort of story or through-line with the record, it just has the feeling you are on a journey. The flow of the record is just mixed perfectly, starting out with the anthemic first single "Take A Walk," a blistering take on financial worries transcending time and class.



Ratcheting things up higher with the soaring brilliance of "I'll Be Alright," glowing synths bursting through the pounding beats and goofy samples and vocals.



Slowing things down with the gorgeous blue-eyed soul of "Constant Conversations," Angelakos offering up one of his most understated vocal turns, letting his guard down, singing lyrics like "I never wanna hurt you baby, I’m just a mess with a name and a price/And now I’m drunker than before, they told me drinking doesn’t make me nice."



Waking things back up with the furiously pounding "Mirrored Sea," its glistening synths pulsating over the beats,



which leads up to the epic "On My Way" which allows Angelakos' voice to climb and climb as strings, horns, and massive choir vocals swirl around him. The song feels like that stirring number that closes out the first act of a musical.



The second half of the record starts with some experimental sounding electronics bleeding into a piano pumping rocker "Hideaway," which in our fictional musical, brings the lovers to the crossroads.



Of course, this leads to darker roads ahead, from the doubts of "Love Is Greed," with lyrics like "Don’t wanna love, don’t wanna hurt/If all that loneliness requires/Just another’s comfort/Better off being alone on the road/Cause the beauty in being alone," to the stunning "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy" in which the narrator realizes to make do with what he has and just be happy. The skyscraping synths, drums, and vocals almost overpower you with their perfection.



Gossamer goes out on a note of introspection with the haunting "Where We Belong," which finds Angelakos searching for his place in the world. His voice aches with genuine pain, eventually coming to point where he can be at peace. The music is just perfect, burbling electronics, tribal drums, and twinkling synths, taking the album out on a very high note.



Gossamer gets better and better with each subsequent listen. Angelakos and Zane have truly outdone themselves with the production work, each song having its right place and feel within the record proper, but also working just as well on their own. In a year where I thought Beach House's Bloom was a sure-fire bet for my best of list, this amazing record (along with Purity Ring's debut Shrines) is putting up a hell of a fight.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.