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Passion Pit - Chunk of Change EP (Frenchkiss / Columbia)

4/5

By: Thomas Hannan

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As belated Valentine's Day gifts turned in to bands go... this is the only one I can name. But as bedroom dalliances with laptop music software and strained surely-that-must-be-a-girl falsetto experiments morphed in to huge hype generating full band propositions go... this is genuinely amongst the most exciting pop music going on at the minute.

And what makes it exciting is the personal nature of it so apparent from merely the initial notes of the impeccable, sprawling opener 'I've Got Your Number', the idea that Passion Pit are really reaching for something with all their might the whole time. Often, that thing they're trying to attain is the right note - Michael Angelakos is not singing in a register that is particularly suited to his voice. But this roughness to its edges, this admittance of its failings - where do you hear that in any other electronically based music? This feels like a proper band, even though when it was recorded, Passion Pit were barely even a one man project. Angelakos means it enough for five people.

Born of the bedroom, this is music that is made for the dancefloor - the build and release of tension that comes in 'Smile Upon Me' admits of the existence of no other scenario in which to listen to music - but would sound thrillingly weird if actually ever played in a club. It just sounds particularly 'what?', far too much like it was made by a person, with analogue instruments, for it to obey the conventions of its chosen genre. Other purveyors of what I previously thought had been the pinnacle of 'human' dance music (with a beating heart, as opposed to just beating drums), such as Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem, still sound brilliant after listening to Passion Pit - they just sound comparably slick as hell. PP are thrillingly opposed to slickness, and I don't care if it's down to a lack of skill or not owning as much fancy equipment, they are working it.

Though their delivery is charmingly timid in places, the tunes are massive, assertive, hummable, beasts of compositions. 'Better Things' could have been a cut from whatever Will Smith album had 'Boom Shake The Room' and 'Summertime' on it (don't say The Best of Will Smith), it's that bouncy - but of course, it also sounds completely and utterly weird and like it's about to collapse under the weight of its own joy de vivre at any second, so the comparison is redundant. Apologies. 'Cuddle Fuddle' is what I imagine the sound in a pretty girl's head is like when she shuts her eyes, and though you'll probably have heard 'Sleepyhead' already, god damn if I don't enjoy that huge, all conquering synth line more and more every time it arrives out of nowhere to rock my world.

Chunk of Change is pop music, to dance to, about love, made by a person who you'll consider a friend by the end of its all too brief duration. He's been that honest with you. Quite what made him think electronic music could sound OK when delivered like this is still somewhat baffling, although certainly brave. Where his head is at I could not accurately place. But his heart is on his sleeve.

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