There are those bands that sound better live and those that don't. Passion Pit falls into a unique category where a case can be made for both.
Tuesday night, the burgeoning electronic band played a show at the Ottobar, a grungy little venue just south of Homewood. Their blend of electronic, dance and pop music lends itself better for live performances complete with thudding bass and drums.
But then again, a live performance can also mean that the sound quality won't be so great and that certain parts of the songs will be drowned out in the sea of bass.
Additionally, it means that Michael Angelakos's vocals will be heard with only a little electronic filtering. Whether this is good or bad really depends on your taste. Some may find his high-pitched voice endearing, while others will find it annoying. Personally I think that the electronic filtering was done well and ultimately enhanced his voice.
Overall, the sound quality within the venue was decent. It wasn't too loud, which is often the danger with performing electronic/dance music in small places like the Ottobar.
Passion Pit is not exactly known for their prolific songwriting. Chunk of Change, their debut EP, had only six songs on it. Of course, the songs were originally a Valentine's Day gift for Angelakos's at-the-time girlfriend, so the minimalism is understandable. And for such an under-the-radar debut, the songs were solid and catchy. The EP was well represented at the show.
All the crowd favorites were played: "I've Got Your Number," "Better Things" and "Live to Tell the Tale." The crowd went a little crazy with a massive arm-waving dance party in the middle of the floor when "Sleepyhead" was finally played.
In addition to songs from the EP, a couple of brand new songs were also played. The first one was introduced with the statement "We just learned this song yesterday, so bear with us. This song doesn't have a name." The song was very similar to the rest of the set but with more emphasis on traditional drums, vocals and piano than on electronic beats. The second new song was done as an encore, after about 30 seconds of suspense when the crowd demanded Passion Pit's return. Instead, Angelakos came on stage and introduced his new song which featured only him and his piano. This song was very different from anything Passion Pit has done before; it was a mellow, more vocally-focused song that gave it a more intimate feel.
The concert wasn't too packed. For the opening acts, it was actually almost empty. Understandably, the openers, Paper Route and Cale Parks, weren't huge crowd draws. Paper Route is a generic indie/electronic band, complete with accordion and harmonica that unfortunately do not add much to the music. Cale Parks performed solo: drumming, running his electronic machine and singing slightly incomprehensibly. These performances were enjoyable, but ultimately they were overshadowed by Passion Pit's performance.
Overall, the show was just about as good as I thought it would be. My expectations were pretty high because Passion Pit is one of those bands that people say is "great live." Their reputation preceded them, but I wasn't let down. They did their thing and made it sing.
