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"Someday I will write a book about pop music and its great deception, entitled... well, The Great Deception. (Ya&amp;#x27;ll better read it!) It&amp;#x27;s an art to disguise layers of pain underneath layers of glossy production trickery. The saddest pop songs often have the sweetest, most irresistible melodies. This is something Passion Pit and lead singer Michael Angelakos have mastered, but their mastery has often been underestimated. One of their first breakout singles, &amp;quot;Sleepyhead&amp;quot; from their 2009 debut, Manners was in iPod commercials and a college crowd favorite. Not that songs like this have no place as party-starters on frat row or in trendy advertisements, but if you listen beyond the chipmunk yelps, sky-high falsetto crooning, and electronic squiggles, you&amp;#x27;ll hear the frenetic mind of a college dropout on the brink of a nervous breakdown. The Great Deception of Pop only comes from what we want our ears to hear--when something sounds that catchy and just plain good, a suspension of disbelief followed by hardcore dancing usually follows. (This isn&amp;#x27;t to say that Passion Pit&amp;#x27;s music is not to be danced to, of course.) I am simply making the case for a closer listen, but with Gossamer, you don&amp;#x27;t have to listen that closely to get the picture. The overall sound of Gossamer is even more bombastic than Manners, but Angelakos&amp;#x27; lyrics are front and center. This means even squigglier synths, even more stadium-sized beats to stomp around to, and stronger melodies that will never leave your head. But there are stories here to get behind, too. The dichotomous relationship between the music and lyrics on Gossamer is a recurrent theme throughout the album and makes for a thrilling journey into the mind of its creator. For example, &amp;quot;Constant Conversations&amp;quot; is a soulful tune that swells and retreats against the tides of Angelakos&amp;#x27; heartbreaking explanations of times he&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;failed&amp;quot; his current fianc?\uFFFD. And the buzzy synths that swirl around &amp;quot;&amp;quot;I&amp;#x27;ll Be Alright&amp;quot; are like a choir of angels delivering Angelakos&amp;#x27; resigned promises to self. It doesn&amp;#x27;t get much better than this track, manipulating listeners with cries for co-dependency as the music does a spastic shimmy across the solar system. I love how Angelakos never fully explores the answers to the questions he poses too deeply; it leaves more up to the listener&amp;#x27;s imagination. Even on first single &amp;quot;Take a Walk,&amp;quot; though the jagged notebook poetry suggests frustration with making ends meet in a corrupt society, it sounds like it would fit another iPod commercial all too perfectly. I&amp;#x27;ve avoided making much over the recent news that Passion Pit has cancelled key tour dates prior to Gossamer&amp;#x27;s release so that Angelakos could tend to his struggles with mental illness. I think he poured everything into this album, and if it feels at all uneven, it&amp;#x27;s because he is feeling imbalanced. That doesn&amp;#x27;t make this release any less brilliant, or any less triumphant. That said, I sincerely hope that Angelakos gets well soon. Also out today: Purity Ring -- Shrines; The Antlers -- Undersea; Laetitia Sadler -- Silencio What do we think of Passion Pit&amp;#x27;s new material, darlings? I am seriously so curious to know what y&amp;#x27;all think. More Music... *Morning Jam: Rita Ora&amp;#x27;s &amp;quot;Roc the Life&amp;quot; *Songstress Elizaveta Premieres Her &amp;quot;Rolling Stone&amp;quot; Video With Us! *Is Carly Rae Jepsen Sick of &amp;quot;Call Me Maybe&amp;quot;? She Tells Us! Photo: Sony Music, YouTube "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.glamour.com/entertainment/blogs/obsessed/2012/07/passion-pit-review>