Album of the Week: Manners

“Sleepyhead,” Passion Pit’s breakout hit from last year, had one-hit wonder written all over it. A bedroom project, put together (along with a few other tracks, which then comprised the Chunk of Change EP) as a Valentine’s Day gift to lead singer Michael Angelakos’s girlfriend, its quirky and razor-sharp brilliance seemed impossible to top, destined for a future Best of the 2000s mix CD. (It reminded me of a Best of the 1990s song, “Your Woman,” a genius single from never-heard-from-again solo project White Town.) But Angelakos, and his quickly assembled band, haven’t tried to top “Sleepyhead” on the ridiculously solid debut Manners. Instead, they’ve traded quirkiness for a more danceable heft, as on subsequent single “The Reeling” (as can be heard on JeffMix2009.04.30) and the uplifting “Little Secrets” — stepping outside the bedroom studio and directing their Howard Jones-sounding pop at the masses. Sure, the early-1980s production can sound a bit too much like it’s taken from the Ghostbusters soundtrack, but Passion Pit are clearly meant to stay. One of the best of the year. A

Passion Pit: Moth’s Wings (courtesy RCRD LBL)
from Manners
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