Passion Pit – Kindred

If you haven’t heard of Passion Pit yet, their third studio album Kindred is exactly what fans have come to expect. It’s an album  adorned with Michael Angelakos’ falsetto voice, backed up by a variety of intense, electro-pop beats that sound joyful despite the often dark subject matter of their songs.

Rather than acting to confuse listeners, this juxtaposition is prevalent in some of their most popular songs – The 2012 hit Take A Walk, for example, focuses on the struggles of adulthood, but sounds positively elated in doing so.

Kindred bounces loosely between topics of romantic love, emotional struggle, and family relationships while having a persistent style. Every song furthers a particular sound, which is fantastically playful, as if you were living a daydream.

 Compared to their previous albums this feels uninspired and repetitive. Similarly, the music lacks the intensity of feeling that their first album, Manners brought to the table. Compared to their second album, Gossamer, which was a refined and flowing album, Kindred feels totally disjointed. Some of the songs just seem out of place, in particular for a lack of lyrical creativity.

In spite of this, the music on this album is enjoyable and there are certain songs that are above the rest. Until We Can’t (Let’s Go) provides their signature over the top experience, and Where the Sky Hangs is the stripped back, highly emotive piece that Passion Pit has been able to deliver in the past.

This album is a slight let down for fans, and I would not recommend it as an introduction for new listeners.

3/5

By Leo Sloan