Passion Pit get more personal with their third album, Kindred. It opens with the energetic notes of Lifted Up (1985) featuring Michael Angelakos' distinctly quirky, falsetto-fuelled voice. That song - gentler than previous albums, Gossamer (2012) and Manners (2009) - sets the tone for the rest of the electro-indie-pop record.
Watch the music video for Lifted Up (1985) by Passion Pit:
"Many sounds on Kindred that you'd assume are synths are actually Angelakos' voice, minced on a computer, morphed by pedals," Brent Katz explains in the album's liner notes. Each track on Kindred is layered heavily with xylophones, bass, guitars and other synth-like electronic sounds that come together to create the dreamy dance of Whole Life Story and Where The Sky Hangs and the punchy mix of Until We Can't (Let Go) and My Brother Taught Me How To Swim.
Your ear picks out something new with each listen, and this is an album you will want to put on repeat as Kindred grows on you very quickly. The album's final song Ten Feet Tall (II) feels like a victory lap with Angelakos' shrieky, auto-tuned voice, soaring magnificently over top of crashing cymbals and lazy drums. The track throws a contrast from the jumpier, playful Five Foot Ten (I) earlier on the album.
