Passion Pit - Take A Walk

Single review by Andy L

From humble beginnings come great things, or perhaps more accurately ‘Better Things’; so it was for Boston-based student Michael Angelakos, when the musical musings he created as an affectionately home-crafted Valentines' gift for his sweetheart, gave birth to the project that would take him and four like-minded friends forth to good times across the globe on the back of a critically acclaimed debut album. Though the Passion Pit tale may read like the embodiment of the tantalising ‘American Dream’, in reality both personally and professionally it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the band, which is why perhaps on their latest single ‘Take a Walk’, they present a story that debunks the USA’s reach for the stars mantra.

With the abstract lyrical style of the first LP sidelined, what we instead get is the first person narrative of an immigrant to North America, as he shares the rise and demise of his aspirations in the land of the free, and while the repetition of the track's title in the booming chorus may be tailor made for crowds to cheerfully chant along, below the surface there’s a more sombre intonation to be found. If lyrically ‘Take A Walk’ carries a turbulent tone, musically it’s a whole different ball game - a bouncy ball game to be exact, with the bounding beat that dominates proceedings, represented in the track's promo video by a rubber sphere skipping and springing its way to the sky and back. A church organ brings an evangelical quality, before the requisite squirting synthesizers and that hammer beat, dive in to serve up the fun and fantasy we’ve come to expect from Passion Pit’s brand of bright electro-pop. Uplifting but emotionally undulating, 'Take A Walk' proves that when it come to making great tunes, for these five it’s merely a stroll in the park.

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