with the intention of creating a valentines day gift for his then girlfriend christine, cambridge based passion pit started as a one-time/one-man project of michael angelakos.  the resulting e.p., chunk of change quickly found its way onto the ipods of his friends at emerson college, who then passed it on to their friends and acquaintances.  in late 2007, michael (vocals, keyboard) teamed with ian hultquist (keyboards), ayad al adhamy (synth/samples), jeff apruzzese (bass) and nate donmoyer (drums) and passion pit became a live band.  after playing just a few shows, they were voted best new act according to the the boston phoenix.

early in 2008, they were tapped to support death cab for cutie and girl talk; this attracted the attention of the record labels, and in 2008 chunk of change was re-released by frenchkiss.  on may 19, 2009, the band released their first lp, manners.  clashmusic wrote that the album “has every chance to rank as one of the year’s best" and that "it reveals additional nuances with each visit: a sure-fire sign of an album with true longevity".

according to npr’s all songs considered, “passion pit's fun and danceable music is crammed with soaring synth leads, propulsive beats and rhythmic computer blips, falsetto vocals and relentless hooks”.

in 2009, passion pit placed ninth in bbc’s sound of 2009 list of up-and-coming acts.

click here for a june 09, 2009 gig recorded in d.c. by npr's all songs considered.  click here for a december 01, 2008 in-studio interview/gig recorded for world café by wxpn.  click here for a may 22, 2009 in-studio interview/gig recorded for morning becomes eclectic by kcrw.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if passion pit have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.