Passion Pit

Manners (Frenchkiss)
By Mike Delano

Passion Pit will uplift you. It’s just a question of when – when your resistance will be sufficiently eroded by soaring crescendos, children’s choir backup vocals, insanely catchy choruses and bouncy dance beats that you’ll just throw up your hands and join the party. It’s pretty irresistible stuff. You might as well just strap on a belt made of balloons and join these five Boston dudes up in the clouds right now.

Resist you might, though. Not everything on the album lives up to the pitch-perfect sing-a-long of “The Reeling” or the majestic “Sleepyhead.” “Make Light” and “Moth’s Wings” share all of the trappings but none of the focus of those standouts. And even veterans with a high tolerance for Geddy Lee/Claudio Sanchez-style vocals might grind their teeth after 40+ minutes of frontman Michael Angelakos’ high notes.

But lest you think Manners is all rainbows and butterflies, note that there’s a definite dark void swirling under the jubilant exterior of these songs. The chorus of “The Reeling” pleads “look at me/ oh, look at me/ is this the way I’ll always be?” while on “Eyes As Candles,” Angelakos stands in his “shell of a body/ the flowers blossom for picking/ I’ve waited and waited for someone to take it.” Passion Pit will lift you up, but they make no guarantees on the weather once you’re up there.
(www.frenchkissrecords.com)