A pit of what you fancy
They’re the quirky electro-rockers who have got the music industry buzzing. But don’t mistake Passion pit for another bunch of MGMT clones. As their viral hit ‘Sleepyhead’ confirms, their whimsical sound is entirely unique – as is their enthusiasm for sampling obscure Irish harpists
Ed Power, 30 Mar 2009
Surveying a fridge crammed with green-bottled Dutch lager, Passion Pit’s Michael Angelakos has a question: where the fuck is all the Irish beer?
“I thought we were supposed to be in the land of great booze,” says the 23-year-old Bostonian, flagging his outrage by removing his trendy specs. “Shouldn’t there be a bunch of cool local brews in our rider?”
He seems rather nonplussed when it’s pointed out that Ireland’s best-selling beer is an ethereal concoction that goes by the name of Budweiser and that, redneck America aside, we’re the world’s most avid consumers per capita of Coors Lite.
“Woah dude – this is Ireland. I thought everyone drank Guinness.”
Like many Boston natives Angelakos would appear to nurse rather romanticised notions regarding the "old country". Unlike most, though, he’s actually channelled his passion for all things Gaelic into a woozy indie-pop gem. Sampling a long-forgotten vocal flourish from ‘70s trad singer/harpist Mary O’Hara – Angelakos is under the impression she’s a household name this side of the Atlantic – Passion Pit’s break-out hit, ‘Sleepyhead’ is a twinkling masterpiece, a casio-pop soufflé just the right side of twee.
“I don’t know what the words mean,” he says of the sample’s contorted ‘Gaelic’ lyrics (it’s called Irish, dude). “That’s not because I’m too lazy to translate them. I like not knowing what they mean. If I was to translate it, then I would be injecting her meaning into my meaning. What I did was completely destroy the song – I sped it up and cut it up in different ways, to the point where you can’t understand what she’s saying anyway.”
Search for “Passion Pit” on Google and chances are you’ll stumble upon an ‘80s porn movie starring teen skin-flick maven Traci Lords.
“It’s a really ambitious porn film,” jokes bassist Jeff Apruzzese. “In terms of plot, apparently it’s considered revolutionary.”
Spluttering on his beer, Angelakos interjects: “Ambitious? It was flat-out illegal – she was under age when she made it. It’s a pretty intense film. Allegedly. You can see clips of it on YouTube – just the talking parts. Although, I think if you look up Passion Pit on the internet, we’ve finally overtaken it.”
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