Passion Pit

Michael Angelakos, the face and voice of Passion Pit, has a lot to say on Kindred, the band’s third studio album. Much of it is personal stuff that shines in its sleek sentence formation and clever wordplay. It’s quality songwriting. 

The problem, then, is that it’s easy to lose that quality in the mediocrity and repetition that plagues Kindred

The album has a pop problem.

Passion Pit’s fun, electric sound lends itself well to the label “pop,” and Kindred does nothing to shake that. Much of the work is simplistic and catchy, but seemingly empty. The words blend together quickly under the synth beats, soon going unheard. In this sense, much of the album feels like a waste of good writing. 

On “Ten Feet Tall (II),” Angelakos takes some swings, singing “These motherf—–s and their godd— roasts/ Praying what they say is what goes, pretending no one knows.” But you wouldn’t realize he sings those words because the synthesizer covers his voice, and soon the song sounds like him singing the chorus, “It’s all I’ve ever known,” over and over and over again. You can see how that would become annoying.

Tracks such as “Looks Like Rain” and “Lifted Up (1985)” fall into the same trap. Their overpowering pop sound deems the (interesting) verses irrelevant, leaning on the simple, silly chorus to carry the song. This is often a bad thing, and even in the case that the chorus does work, its repetition does not bode well for repeat listens.

Passion Pit has the ability to make a perfect song; the music on Kindred just doesn’t consistently reach that level. The only exception may be the silky smooth jazz beat on “Where the Sky Hangs.” It’s experimental, and, unlike much of the fizzly pop on the radio now, it’s quite distant from top 40’s electro sound.

For those seeking some fun pop, something to play aloud as you do other things, Kindred will do. But even in that background task music category, there are better options. Kindred’s inability to really come together into something that at least matches the quality of Passion Pit’s old work makes it acceptable in many categories but exceptional in none.