In an interview with Pitchfork in 2012, Passion Pit frontman Michael Angelakos spoke candidly about depression, suicide and substance abuse. It was something of a revelation, recontextualising his candy-coloured compositions and opening the lid on an artist whose personality was otherwise unknown. Angelakos addresses some of the fallout from those revelations on his third LP: “Sorry darling,” he sings to his wife on Whole Life Story. “How could you forgive me when our life’s some story out for them to buy?” Its artwork – a shot of a wide-eyed child – also hammers home Kindred’s therapeutic, regressive examination of old wounds (albeit with the subtly of a sledgehammer). But in spite of its earnest intentions, the music continues to bulldoze its way through sincerity; piles of chaotic, claustrophobic production and slick, synthy sophistication. There’s a heartbeat underneath the saccharine mania for sure, but Angelakos seems reluctant to let us hear it.
