Passion Pit - I'll Be Alright

The only thing nicer than writing the words “new Passion Pit song” is, well, listening to a new Passion Pit song. I’ve been besotted with the band ever since hearing their breakthrough hit Sleepyhead. Therefore it’s fair to say that we all expect big things from the band.

I’ll Be Alright does bear some similarities to Passion Pit, those being the occasional bursts of autotuned shrieks and wails. The song starts out strong, laden with synths and strong drumbeats. It’s already all too easy to imagine how electrifying this song will sound when it’s live… The beginning of it anyway. After that, the song just seems to kind of… slump. In all honesty, the parts of the song that don’t feature Michael Angelakos’s vocals are actually the best, as the majority of the song just feels like an average – but not necessarily bad – Passion Pit song. The song tries again and again to get stronger as every new section comes in, but in my opinion just disappoints. I’ll Be Alright isn’t a bad song, but it certainly a disappointment after brilliant comeback single Take a Walk. Alright by name and alright by nature.

(Stream via NME)

Grace Barber-Plentie

Passion Pit - Take A Walk

It’s been three years but Passion Pit are finally back. The connoisseurs of sparkly electro pop have returned with ‘Take a Walk’, the first single from their soon to be released second album ‘Gossamer’ (July 23). ‘Take a Walk’ bids farewell to the falsetto vocals which Passion Pit used so well on debut album ‘Manners’ and it feels much more restrained than songs like ‘Little Secrets’ and ‘Sleepyhead’. But it’s undeniably them, as stomping percussion underlines a niggling synth line. If ‘Gossamer’ follows the same vein as this, Passion Pit are definitely going to come across far less niche than their first album made them seem. ‘Take a Walk’ isn’t half as exciting as most of the songs on ‘Manners’ but it’s at least nice to see them back.

Jessy Parker

Brothertiger - Golden Years

John Lagos, the man behind Brothertiger, hasn’t given me an easy job. To make it harder for myself, I’m excluding these words from the following review: ‘Chillwave’, ‘nostalgia’, ‘gaze’, and finally, ‘haze’. Oh, and the phrase ‘soundtrack to your summer’.

The name ‘Brothertiger’ is a portmanteau, a combination of two words to make one new one, and in this case, a combination of human and animal elements. It sounds like a man to me though. I wonder what it would sound like if a goat did the singing. That would be interesting. Like that video mash up with Usher and ‘the goat that sounds like a man’. Sorry, I got carried away. Back to the album. Golden Years starts with the sound of children’s voices, clichéd indeed, but setting the tone for the album nonetheless. Then the synths arrive. The synths arrive. Oh boy have the synths arrived. They aren’t going anywhere. The synths are staying put. For the whole length of the record. All of it.

Oh and here are the vocals.

“Hey vocals, long time no see. When was the last time? Teen Daze? Blackbird Blackbird? Good to see you again though man.”

“Synths, meet vocals... vocals, meet synths”.

“Good, now you’ve met, let’s continue. Hey there, don’t get too intimate, you’ve only just met! Hey! Don’t be so flirty synths. Stop it. Stop it. I got distracted again. Back to the album.”

Golden Years is a collection of upbeat pop songs that float and flitter. The best of these being ‘Lovers’, a song that stands out like a sore thumb amongst the rest with its cut and paste vocals and infectious synth hook that strongly recalls Passion Pit’s debut Manners. I wonder where Passion Pit have got to... they were quite good whilst they were around. Wasn’t the singer Greek? I think he might have been. I wonder what will happen to Greece. They don’t look like they’re in a very comfortable position right now. Certainly not in their ‘Golden Years’...

6/10

William Hall