Like 2009's
Manners,
Passion Pit's sophomore outing is a fat thunderclap of soulful, echo-boom electro-pop that's as poisonous as it is precious, pounding out twinkling summer dance hymns that frame
Michael Angelakos' elastic falsetto against a buttermilk sky that's secretly teeming with ominous storm clouds. With
Gossamer,
Angelakos' angst is pushed even further to the forefront, revealing an artist who doesn't just moonlight as a professional demon wrestler, but puts in a full day's work. Despite the flurry of pre-release woes (canceled shows, lengthy hospital stays, and the revelation of a botched, early suicide attempt, the latter of which is examined in great detail on the visceral and vulnerable closer "Where We Belong"),
Gossamer is a triumph of youthful, bipolar tenacity that filters its manic energy through a cosmopolitan prism of pop avenues, from silky neo-soul ("Constant Conversation") to shimmery
Jonsi-inspired synth pop ("Take a Walk"), the latter of which takes a third-person approach, weaving a tale of a husband and father's desperation in trying to make sense of his own actions in the midst of a recession's relentless, bloodied backhand.
Angelakos' pathos aside, musically,
Gossamer bristles with the kind of accessible pop luminosity that's usually relegated to barren Top 40 nonsense, but
Angelakos and company know what constitutes a proper earworm, and effortless, infectious cuts like "I'll Be Alright," "Carried Away," "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy," and the aforementioned "Constant Conversation" latch on to the cochlea like a xenomorph with a taste for
Fun.,
Phoenix, and the
Lightning Seeds. Though the environment that birthed the appropriately titled
Gossamer may be a bummer, the end product is winningly majestic and brilliantly spun. ~ James Christopher Monger
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