Passion Pit
Named after the back row of cars at a drive-in, Passion Pit began when Boston student Michael Angelakos started making electro-pop tracks on his laptop in his bedroom in 2007. Broke on Valentine’s Day, he gave a mixtape of his music to his girlfriend, which circulated round campus before falling into the hands of the arty New York label, Frenchkiss. The girl ended up dumping him, but suddenly Angelakos was an indie music star.
Sounding like MGMT and The Avalanches locked in a garage full of helium, that mixtape eventually became Passion Pit’s debut EP Chunk Of Change, which quickly grabbed the ears of blog heads with giddy tracks like ‘Sleepyhead’ and ‘Better Things’. Their debut album Manners followed in 2009, transforming from a laptop love affair into a fully-fledged live band. Thanks to tracks like ‘Moth’s Wings’ and ‘Little Secrets’, the band – now a five-piece – soared into the indie stratosphere, landing spots on the Big Day Out 2010 and Splendour in the Grass six months later.