Passion Pit

Passion Pit are an American indietronica group from Cambridge, Massachusetts, active since 2007. The project centres on Michael Angelakos, and the live lineup has included Chris Hartz, Aaron Harrison Folb, Giuliano Pizzulo and Ray Suen. Verified membership for the group also includes Chris Hartz, Jeff Apruzzese, Nathan Donmoyer, Ian Hultquist, Xander Singh and Zander Singh.

Formation and name

The first Passion Pit songs later form the Chunk of Change EP. Angelakos writes them at Emerson College as a late Valentine’s Day gift for his then-girlfriend. He initially records and performs the material alone on a laptop, and plays early solo shows in Boston with just a microphone and laptop. The name “Passion Pit” comes from a vocabulary term he encounters at school, and it is also linked to a Variety slang glossary describing drive-in theatres.

Early releases

The group’s debut EP, Chunk of Change, appears in 2008. The first four tracks come from Angelakos’s original solo recordings, with “Better Things” and “Sleepyhead” added for the commercial release. The EP attracts attention around Emerson and through blogs, and “Sleepyhead” becomes the only single from the release. The song also uses a sample of “Óró Mo Bháidín” by Mary O’Hara. Other tracks from the EP receive media exposure: “Cuddle Fuddle” appears in The Inbetweeners, and “I’ve Got Your Number” is used in an O2 Money advertisement. That year, the band is named Best New Local Act in the WFNX/Boston Phoenix music poll.

Manners and wider recognition

Manners, the first full-length album, is released in 2009. The PS22 chorus contributes vocals to “The Reeling”, “Little Secrets” and “Let Your Love Grow Tall”. “The Reeling” and “Little Secrets” both chart on Billboard’s Alternative Songs list, while “To Kingdom Come” is used in a Rhapsody iPhone app commercial. “Let Your Love Grow Tall” later appears in Ugly Betty. “Sleepyhead” is included on the album as the only track carried over from Chunk of Change, and it continues to appear in advertising and television, including Skins and a trailer for LittleBigPlanet 2. “Moth’s Wings” also gains extensive placement in television, film and sport, including Gossip Girl, Big Love, FIFA 10, Life As We Know It, Sky Sports’ Champions League coverage, So You Think You Can Dance and Awkward.

Touring, covers and line-up changes

A deluxe edition of Manners follows in 2010 with new artwork, stripped-down versions of “Sleepyhead” and “Moth’s Wings”, and a cover of The Cranberries’ “Dreams”. The band also records a cover of The Smashing Pumpkins’ “Tonight, Tonight” for Levi’s “Pioneer Sessions”. In the same period, Passion Pit supports Muse on an eight-show U.S. tour. The line-up changes over time: after the group signs to Frenchkiss in 2008, Jeff Apruzzese and Nate Donmoyer replace Thom Plasse and Adam Lavinsky, and in 2012 Xander Singh replaces Ayad Al Adhamy.

Gossamer and Angelakos’s health

The second album, Gossamer, is released in 2012, following singles including “Take a Walk”, “I’ll Be Alright” and “Constant Conversations”. The band appears on Saturday Night Live later that year, performing “Take a Walk” and “Carried Away”. Around this period, Angelakos suspends touring and seeks ongoing treatment for bipolar disorder. He says he is diagnosed at 17 and has received therapy, hospital care and medication since then.

Kindred, later activity and The Wishart Group

Kindred, the third studio album, arrives in 2015 and is preceded by “Lifted Up (1985)”, “Where the Sky Hangs” and “Until We Can’t (Let’s Go)”. Before its release, the group posts coded images on social media and uses a temporary website linked to the album. In 2017, new Passion Pit songs appear on the YouTube account for The Wishart Group, a project started by Michael Angelakos to support musicians with legal, educational and healthcare services, with an emphasis on mental health. The songs are later removed, and Angelakos says the album will be made available for free to people who retweet a message about science and research, with profits donated to a psychiatric research institution in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The fourth album, Tremendous Sea of Love, is announced in 2018, and the band tours North America that year to promote it and mark the 10th anniversary of Chunk of Change.