Album excerpts:

"Little Secrets"

"Sleepyhead"

"Swimming in the Flood"

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Passion Pit : Manners
released on French Kiss Records
reviewed by Gaspar Oliveira for GBH.tv

Kids today know to expect the worst. Whether they're reading the news or listening to the latest album leaks, the prevailing wisdom is that any and all causes for optimism should be ignored; whatever it is, don't get excited; it's all going to disappoint us, in the end.

Thanks to that general mindset (thanks, President Bush!), plenty of people I know weren't excited about Manners, Passion Pit's full-length debut. In fact, they were terrified; ever since everybody went generally wild for the band's Chunk of Change EP (and "Sleepyhead" specifically) last year, a lot of people have been holding their breath, assuming the worst.

And really, it's tough to fault the pessimism. We've seen this happen many times before: winsome indie band records smallish EP, enthralls the blogs and the press, gets shoved into the studio by a big bad major. That story usually ends with an undercooked, uneven record (cough - Partie Traumatic! - cough), a tidal wave of backlash, and a stunted set of musical careers. 

Passion Pit may have lived the first part of that story, but their debut defies convention. Despite the absurd pressure it was created under, Manners hits every single high note that Michael Angelakos, the band's helium-voiced lead songwriter, reaches for. Angelakos squirms and flails and frets about the crucible he's been thrown into, singing about his family praying for him ("Eyes as Candles"), about his own prayers to be kidnapped and taken out of his predicament ("The Reeling"), about the tug-of-war between gratefulness and fear ("Folds in Your Hands") his talent forced him into.

There are moments on this album where you can hear Angelakos poised over the abyss, just hanging on for dear life, and more than anything, his music seems to rescue him. Manners is big, bright, and humble, filled with with ecstatic, rapturous moments: synth fireworks ("Swimming in the Flood"), jubilant children's choirs and little wiggles of white boy funk ("Little Secrets"), all arranged with the expertise you'd expect of his Berklee-trained backing band. It's one of the most hopeful albums I've heard all year, and in a time when so many people are so hurting and so scared, lines like "Stay the same / cuz everything will change," come across as nothing short of revelatory. A little optimism really can go a long way.

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