They’re a band born out of heartbreak and contradiction.
Their sometimes down-and-out lyrics don’t fit the up-tempo dance pop that gets crowds moving, but somehow it works.
And that’s become the unintended signature that makes Passion Pit what it is.
The electro-pop five piece are a fairly young band, starting out in 2007 after lead vocalist Michael Angelakos penned a collection of love songs for his girlfriend, which later became the band’s first EP, Chunk of Change.
But it wasn’t until a couple of years later they dropped their first full-length album, Manners, that threw them into the spotlight.
Before they knew it, their songs were appearing on ads and hit international shows like Ugly Betty, Big Love and Gossip Girl and in the same year they found themselves playing to thousands at Glastonbury 2009, and just this year playing two weekends in a row at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Southern California.
It’s a pretty big deal, but guitarist and keyboardist, Ian Hultquist isn’t quite sure about yet.
“Coachella was great. It was kinda strange going back and doing it twice … I’m still not 100 per cent sold on it. I just feel like Coachella is always such a special festival and doing it twice almost takes some of the magic out of that one weekend, you know But it’s still fun, and both times we played were still really good shows, so I shouldn’t complain,” he says.
So it’s little wonder they’re super stoked to be coming back to New Zealand, where they’ll play a sideshow ahead of their Splendour in the Grass appearance across the ditch.
“We keep wanting to go back down there … we always have fun going down there,” says Hultquist.
“It’s amazing that we can fly 12 hours around the world and be in a place where you can go on stage and people still know the lyrics to your music.”
They’ll be boasting a new set courtesy of their latest album, Gossamer, which they’ve been touring on ever since its release last year.
Hultquist describes the album as a “semi autobiography” of what Angelakos was going through the year he put the album together.
Suffering from bipolar disorder, Angelakos has never been afraid to share his struggle with the world and the music of Passion Pit has helped him to do so, and earned him the Beatrice Stern Media Award at the Erasing the Stigma Leadership Awards earlier this year.
“He went through a lot of dark periods during that time, so because he kinda decided to dive so deep into what he’d been going through, it kind of reflected on the music and made the lyrics quite a tense subject matter,” says Hultquist.
“It’s still a Passion Pit record, it’s just kind of decorated over some pretty dark stories. But that’s kind of always been a thing with all our songs, even from the first EP. A lot of the songs are pretty sad for the most part, but we’re able to sort of hide that and put a map over it with a lot of really happy poppy music.
“That’s just how we started and that’s what we’ve always felt has made Passion Pit what it is.
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“With every record, Michael really wants to try to grow as a songwriter, so the more that we can change with each record while still having that Passion Pit sound – that means that we’ve done our job.”
It’s a change that has impressed fans and critics alike, and has helped the studio v live sound dynamic of band to grow.
“For Gossamer, I barely set foot in the studio the entire time. We talked about maybe moving forward one day, possibly having a little bit more of a live band sound happening on the record, but … the band started from day one as being the recorded version and the live version.”
And it’s the live version that they’ve been working on to perfect for fans around the world, and what we’ll be treated to when the boys visit next week.
“With the live version, that’s when we all kind of get together and really kind of recreate everything from scratch. Some things get completely rearranged or rewritten, we make a lot of changes to make the shows happen the way we want them to. That’s always been our MO.
“I’ve always been fascinated by Michael’s records and writing but I really have a lot of fun on stage, and I feel like – especially this year – we started getting a lot better, basically,” he laughs.
“Now it’s like we’ve finally reached that point where we’re playing the show that we want to be playing.”
But on what to expect, Hultquist gave us only a sly, “you’ll just have to wait and see”.
Hultquist and the rest of Passion Pit will return to our sandy shores next Thursday, and they’re as excited as we are.
“New Zealand’s beautiful. Everything kinda looks a little different there, the sky looks bigger there than it does in other places, I feel like you’re closer to it, in a way. New Zealand crowds … have a bit more energy. We’re really looking forward to coming back down.”
The show is at the Powerstation in Auckland, and there are still some tickets left over at Ticketmaster.co.nz.
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