Passion Pit is an American indie rock/pop band formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2007. The band consists of Michael Angelakos (lead vocals, keyboards), Ian Hultquist (keyboards, guitar), Xander Singh (synthesizer, samples), Jeff Apruzzese (bass, synth bass), and Nate Donmoyer (drums). While it tours as a full band, it is the creative vehicle for frontman and mastermind Michael Angelakos, who started the project as a Valentine's Day gift for his then-girlfriend. Their sound is characterized by maximalist, shimmering synth-pop, chip-munked vocal samples, and Angelakos's soaring falsetto. Despite the nostalgic and upbeat melodies, their lyrics frequently deal with mental health, alcoholism, and the crushing weight of domestic expectations.
Starting when he recorded the Chunk of Change entirely by himself at Emerson College. The tracks, including the future hit "Sleepyhead," became an overnight campus sensation, leading him to form a full touring band in late 2007. Their 2009 debut LP, Manners catapulted them to mainstream success with its expansive and lush sound, though this sudden fame intensified Angelakos' long-standing battle with Bipolar Disorder, which he had been diagnosed with at 18 but had not yet made public. Following the success of Manners, and the band was thrust into a grueling global tour schedule that saw them opening for major acts like Muse and headlining festivals. During the buildup to their second album, Gossamer, became a public turning point for the band's identity. Just days before the album's July 2012 release, Angelakos took the unprecedented step of publicly disclosing his diagnosis in a candid, high-profile interview.
This revelation forced a hiatus almost immediately upon the album's debut; the band canceled several weeks of tour dates so Angelakos could receive intensive treatment. Despite the personal turmoil of the era, Gossamer catapulted the project to new heights. The lead single "Take a Walk" became a massive crossover hit, dominating alternative radio and even appearing in major commercials, becoming the band's biggest success while being a biting critique of financial corruption and family legacy. This peak culminated in the band headlining Madison Square Garden in 2013, a high-water mark for the early 2010s indie-pop boom. With the band seeing increased radio play and an appearance on Saturday Night Live.
Discography
Extended Plays
- Chunk of Change (2008)
- "Sleepyhead"
- Constant Conversations (2013)
- Pretty Penny (2026)
Albums
- Manners (2009)
- "The Reeling"
- "To Kingdom Come"
- "Little Secrets"
- Gossamer (2012)
- "Take a Walk"
- "Constant Conversations"
- "I'll Be Alright"
- "Cry Like a Ghost"
- Kindred (2015)
- "Lifted Up (1985)"
- "Where the Sky Hangs"
- "Until We Can't (Let's Go)"
- Tremendous Sea of Love (2017)
Tremendous Sea of Tropes:
- A cappella: "Two Veils to Hide My Face" comprises of nothing but this.
- Alternate Music Video: Tiësto's remix of "Carried Away" contains a plot of people taking a substance and swallowing lit matches in order to multiply themselves and other objects.
- Cover Version: The band has released several covers of songs, such as The Cranberries' "Dreams"," The Smashing Pumpkins' "Tonight Tonight", and fun.'s "Carry On".
- Concept Video: "To Kingdom Come" and "Cry Like a Ghost" to name a few, as both have narratives that do not entirely match the original lyrics.
- Darker and Edgier: Compared to Manners, Gossamer is far bleaker with serious subject matter such as alcoholism, failing relationships, and mental health being far more prevalent and less subtle.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: In the music video for Tiësto's remix of "Carried Away", the people eat green and red powder to multiply themselves. This is clearly a psychedelic drug.
- Downer Ending: Manners ends on the relatively upbeat but far less optimistic "Seaweed Song", which itself ends with dark drones unlike anything before in the album.
- Drone of Dread: "Seaweed Song" ends on one.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Compared to the dense synths that defined Manners and Gossamer, the band's debut EP Chunk of Change is much quieter and more minimalist. It lacks the explosive, multi-layered synth arrangements of their later work, favoring a lo-fi aesthetic that Michael Angelakos would not return to until Tremendous Sea of Love
- Epic Rocking: "I've Got Your Number" and "Somewhere Up There'', both clocking in over six minutes.
- Faking the Weather: In the music video for "Carried Away," Michael Angelakos's character makes a Heartfelt Apology seemingly in the middle of a downpour at Sophia Bush's character's front door. When the camera cuts to a backshot of the scene, Michael Angelakos was actually using Sophia's garden hose to make it seem like it was raining.
- Genre-Busting: Their music is an upbeat if dissonant fusion of Indie Rock, Pop, Electronica, Synthpop, and Psychedelic Rock.
- Tremendous Sea of Love takes it a step further and adds elements of ambient and glitch pop to the mix.
- Grand Romantic Gesture: As part of the Masochism Tango, "Carried Away"'s music video contains several. Among them are waiting outside the door in the rain (invoked, since he's holding a sprinkler over his head) and hiring a skywriter to apologize.
- Last Note Nightmare: "Seaweed Song" ends with nearly thirty seconds of dark droning guitars before fading to silence.
- Lighter and Softer: Kindred is notably more cheerful and optimistic than it's predecessors.
- Lyrical Dissonance: Their melodies tend to be much cheerier than their lyrics or videos. Michael Angelakos has admitted in interviews that this is quite intentional.
- Loudness War: Gossamer is MUCH louder and has worse clipping than Manners. It is especially heard in "I'll Be Alright".
- "Ten Feet Tall" is another example as everything sounds like it's cranked up as high as it can get.
- Tremendous Sea of Love is also guilty of this, thanks to it's more lo-fi production causing it to be muddier and harder to make out certain elements.
- Masochism Tango: "Carried Away"'s music video is about a couple going through this, constantly fighting and making up.
- Me's a Crowd: The video for Tiësto's remix of "Carried Away" is about people being multiplied into clusters of their own selves.
- Miniscule Rocking: "Two Veils to Hide My Face" an entirely acapella piece, which barely goes over half a minute.
- Ninja Prop: In the video for "Carried Away," the couple grabs the subtitles and uses them to... smash other subtitles.
- Non-Appearing Title: "The Reeling", "To Kingdom Come", "Cry Like a Ghost", others.
- The Oner: "Take a Walk"'s music video is designed to invoke this. It follows the POV of a bouncing ball through a city. Obviously it isn't actually one shot, but several spliced together to make the same effect with no cuts.
- Post-Coital Collapse: In the music video for "Carried Away," a couple keeps fighting, then making up with one another. One scene has the girlfriend angrily charge at the boyfriend only to cut to them slumping onto the bed, smiling at each other.
- Precision F-Strike: "Ten Feet Tall" drops a Mother F-Bomb, though it's hard to make out due to Michael's voice being Autotuned into oblivion.
- Romantic Rain: Invoked in the music video for "Carried Away". The video showcases two lovers who are constantly fighting, but the man keeps redeeming himself by invoking many romance movie cliches. At one point, he stands at her door in what seems to be a downpour... except that the water is coming from a hose and it's perfectly clear out.
- Sampling: "Sleepyhead" is mainly built around a heavily manipulated, high-pitched sample of the Irish folk song "Óró Mo Bháidín" as performed by Mary O'Hara.
- Shout-Out: "Cuddle Fuddle" has the repeated line "Rapunzel, Rapunzel let down your hair" frequently appear throughout the latter half of the song.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: Michael. He hits some insanely high notes, but his speaking voice is actually pretty normal.
- Silly Love Songs: Almost the entirety of Chunk of Change consists of these, as the project originated as a Valentine's Day gift from Michael Angelakos' to his-then girlfriend.
- Something Something Leonard Bernstein: Due to Michael's distinctive falsetto, the usual chaos in the instrumentals, and often fast-paced lyrics, there's a fair few songs notoriously difficult to decipher without reading a lyric sheet.
- "Ten Feet Tall" is the worst example of this, adding extreme autotune to the point you can barely make out syllables.
- Suddenly Shouting: Occasionally happens, like in I'm Perfect, which is sung fairly calmly, until halfway through the second verse, where Michael suddenly switches to a much louder and more chaotic falsetto.
- The Something Song: "Seaweed Song".
- Title-Only Chorus: Take a walk, take a walk, take a walk...
- Unplugged Version: The extended edition of Manners provides "stripped down" versions of "Sleepyhead" and "Moth's Wings".
- Kindred also has a few unplugged/acoustic versions among its bonus tracks.
- Vocal Evolution: Michael Angelakos's vocals on Chunk of Change are notably more raw and unrefined compared to later albums like Manners or Gossamer, while he still utilizes his signature falsetto, the delivery here is breathier and less polished.
- Word Salad Lyrics: The lyrics to "Sleepyhead" are far more abstract and out there compared to most other lyrics, leaving much room for interpretation on what the hell Michael's singing about.