It can’t be a coincidence that Passion Pit’s latest record comes out just as we’re getting a taste of summer temperatures. The Michael Angelakos-led project is known for deceptively sunny pop hits, where vocals mimic synths and lively beats mask dark themes. But Kindred is more than just summer festival fodder. It’s the sequel to 2012’s Gossamer, which candidly focused on Angelakos’s struggles with depression and substance abuse.
Whole Life Story, one of Kindred’s catchiest tunes, feels like a direct follow-up to Gossamer, as Angelakos sings to his wife, “I’m sorry, darling, how could you forgive me when our life’s some story out for them to buy?” The song, and much of the album, fits the Passion Pit prototype: falsetto vocals perched atop a cacophony of keyboards and piercing drum machines.
But it’s the lyrical shift that propels the album in a new direction that will be hard to appreciate amongst throngs of festival-goers. That’s what the sugary hooks are for.
Top track: Whole Life Story
Passion Pit play Wednesday (April 29) at the Danforth Music Hall.
