Passion Pit

Passion Pit was formed in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2007. The initial lineup featured several aspiring musicians. The first songs for the group were recorded by its only permanent member Michael Angelakos. He created them for his girlfriend as a gift for St. Valentine’s Day. Later, these songs became a part of an EP, Chunk of Change. The aspiring singer recorded his first tracks using his old laptop. Michael gave live performances on campus. At one of them, he was approached by Ian Hultquist, who offered the singer to create a band.

The group’s lineup featured many different artists, who came and went. Today, Angelakos and three more live musicians are part of the band. It took the artists a long time to come up with the format of the group. Eventually, in 2008, they signed a contract with Frenchkiss studio. In September 2008, Passion Pit presented its debut EP, Chunk of Change. The album helped the artists become popular on the campus of Emerson College, which Angelakos attended. During classes, Michael gave out free records to his college mates. The single “Sleepyhead”, which was part of the album, became very popular. It was used in marketing campaigns. The music video for the song collected over 13 million views on YouTube.

In 2009, the band released its debut LP, Manners. The singles "Little Secrets" and "The Reeling" became hits in Massachusetts and beyond. The songs made it into Alternative Songs Chart. They were played on rock radio stations. During that time, the musicians performed as opening acts for such groups as Muse and Death Cab for Cutie. Many fans tried to book Passion Pit for private events. In 2010, the musicians started working on the second LP, Gossamer. However, it came out only two years later. The title of the LP was announced at Lollapalooza festival. It eventually appeared in July 2012. The album sold over 200,000 copies in the USA.

The first track for the album came out in May. It was “Take a Walk”. In July, the band released “I’ll Be Alright”. The third single, "Constant Conversations", was named the best new track by Pitchfork.A week before the album’s release, Angelakos canceled all July concerts. He announced the cancelation on the official website. The singer needed to undergo treatment for bipolar disorder. In one of the interviews for Rolling Stone Magazine, it was discovered that Angelakos was diagnosed with this condition when he was just 17 years old and has been fighting it ever since.

In 2013, the band headlines the first Coastline Festival in Tampa and West Palm Beach in Florida. The same year, the artists released a new EP, Constant Conversations, through Spotify and iTunes. The EP featured the alternative version of the single “Constant Conversations” from the album, Gossamer. In 2014, in his twitter, Michael announced his plans for the next LP. Kindred came out in 2015 with the assistance of Columbia Records. The lead single was "Lifted Up (1985)". The next one was "Where the Sky Hangs". After the release, the band went on a tour but had to cut it short due to Michael’s pneumonia.

In February and March 2017, Passion Pit uploaded several new songs on YouTube. They came out under the account of The Wishart Group, which made fans think of a new upcoming album. All videos had the same photo of a woman in a white dress. That woman appeared on the cover of the 4th LP. Before the release of Tremendous Sea of Love, Angelakos told his fans that he would be giving the album out for free to everyone, who would retweet a neurobiologist Michael F. Wells’ post. The money he earned by selling the album were donated to research. After the album’s release, the band embarked on a tour of the USA.