DOWNLOAD: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
Last night, Boston's Passion Pit played the final night of their three-week residency at New York bar Pianos. I was there, packed amongst many in the glorified bedroom of a venue, curious to catch what many have been deeming the next band to graduate from Pianos residency to indie renown (Cold War Kids and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, who I saw play to an almost empty room there four years ago, are alums). Amidst stacks of vintage synths, samplers, microphones and god knows what else, Passion Pit managed to slay like a well-practiced band rather than the one man pet project of main dude Michael Angelakos. Live bass, drums, and two additional keyboardists girthed up Angelakos’ wacky broken-Lego pop pieces, and when they closed the set with “Sleepyhead” everyone on stage started banging those handheld Salvation Army Santa bells and it was the first time I’d seen pogoing at a show in the Lower East Side.
“Sleepyhead” is the single from the bands debut EP Chunk Of Change (out September 16 on Frenchkiss), all crystalline keys and fucked-with shards of vocals before Angelakos starts rapping like an ecstatic Jim James over chewy Moogs and scores of handclaps. It’s a tantalizing slice of electronically-pieced-together pop music, and the calisthenics of his falsetto never grow tiring. Grab the song below, and stay tuned to this space for an exclusive remix from Passion Pit in the weeks to come.
Sounds like: Prince, Project Jenny, Project Jan, Grampall Jookabox
Download: Passion Pit - Sleepyhead
