Afterthought: Passion Pit at Emo's
"Headlining" kind of loses its emphasis during SXSW, but being given that last slot was an eyebrow raising move regarding the status of this electro-pop outfit led by Michael Angelakos. While the band sounded good, cryptic comments Angelakos made regarding the band's longevity - "We're going to be making music for many years to come" he said apropos of nothing - were set in cold contrast with an amateurish and problematic set. Twice drummer Nate Donmoyer threw down his headphones, unable to hear the click track, and their big single "Sleepyhead" broke into chaos before the chorus and had to be restarted.
Angelakos was concerned about the band being filed away and forgotten, but given the size of the crowd at Emo's on Wednesday and the popular and critical reception to their first full-length Manners, it looks as though the Cambridge boys have passed from internet phenomenon into something hopefully more stable.
Talented multi-instrumentalist Cale Parks opened the show with a combination of samples accompanied by real and electronic drums. On the darker side of dance, Parks is perhaps better known as the drummer for indiemo band Aloha, but here he fared just as well on his own. His newest album Sparklace is his second solo effort, so he isn't exactly new to taking the spotlight. He stood singing at the mic between his electronic and regular kit, which only included toms, a cymbal and jam block. Parks' passion and skill as a drummer easily put his performance over the average iPod-pressing electro hack, and while he was well received, the now-overflowing crowd seemed poised not to dance or really move until Passion Pit took the stage.
This was an obstacle that didn't phase the Brooklyn-based Harlem Shakes. The band were as enthusiastic as (and kind of looked like) a high school honors class on the last day of school before vacation. Relying largely on electronic beats, the band traded in sing-along anthems and employed the occasional percussion outbursts from up its members. Happiness personified, the band played each song like the audience knew all the words (which of course they didn't) and were, like Parks, well-received and not just tolerated. This is a new band, and the fact that their songs weren't immediately distinguishable from any number of Arcade Fire/Vampire Weekend hybrids commingling right now isn't an immediate setback.
Unlike their unusually verbose SXSW show, Passion Pit took the stage and let the music do the talking, which worked just fine. Starting things off with the first cut off Manners, "Make Light," the band brought their synthesizers out full force, much to the delight of the audience. It was an unusually straightforward crowd for a Wednesday night at Emo's, with fewer fashion plates running around, more baseball caps, and a higher-than-normal amount of big purple Xs. It was not a self-conscious one either, with hands in the air and bodies moving. Wisely employing as much live instrumentation as possible, the music was alive and celebratory when it might have sounded canned. Drummer Donmoyer had no occasion to feel frustrated this evening, and his fast-paced, precise playing matched his keyboard-heavy (often three going at once) band members.
Aside from the fact that it's dance music, Passion Pit's newest album has a bevy of singalong moments from the "higher and higher" refrain in "Little Secrets" to last year's big single "Sleepyhead," which the band played mid-set. After running through most of their material, the band exited and were prompted to play one encore before splitting. It felt like a quick show, but this is a band with just an album and EP to their name, so there's that. Their performance was auspicious and exciting, and given all the pressure hyped bands have to deal with these days, that was more than enough.
