Lead Singer of Passion Pit Talks Music and Mental Health
Michael Angelakos, lead singer of Passion Pit, opens up about the creative process behind his music, his most recent album and coping with bipolar disorder.
Michael Angelakos, lead singer of indie pop band Passion Pit, sits on the velvet couch in the media room at ACL Live at Moody Theater. Lights, cameras and dozens of copies of his latest album, Kindred, surround him as he stares off into the distance. It would be easy to succumb to the levels of fame a band like Passion Pit has reached within the past few years, but no amount of stardom seems to distract Angelakos from his humble, melancholy persona.
It takes only an instant to realize what a creative being Angelakos is. He is chatty but in a quiet manner, taking time to really think about what he is saying. What comes off as shyness to those who don’t have the chance to speak to him is unveiled by allowing him time to get comfortable and open up about what he is thinking. Thoughts seem to run through his head at the speed of light, which is essential to his communication with others because he has so much to say but wants to convey it in the right manner.
Austin is Angelakos’ last stop on the Mercedes-Benz Evolution Tour, a five-city concert series that targets millennials. Passion Pit visited Austin for the Pluckers 20th Anniversary Party in September, but returned as a part of the Evolution Tour Thursday.
When asked about his experience on the Evolution Tour, Angelakos responds with much positivity, expressing his appreciation of the amount of creative freedom he had during this concert series.
“[Brands] aren’t as open to things like creative freedom and when they ask you to do something in conjunction with their company,” Angelakos says. “This was just about being yourself, doing what you do and just kind of literally showing how you evolve.”
Evolve he has. Passion Pit first started in Cambridge, Mass., in 2007. At first, music was a way for 19-year-old Angelakos to deal with the emotional confusion he felt welling up in his life. Soon, this expression turned into something he did because he wanted his friends to enjoy his music as well. As Passion Pit’s name became larger and they began working with a major label, Angelakos found himself thinking more about what people would want to listen to.
“It’s never led to anything that anyone’s even liked, ironically,” Angelakos says.
He ultimately found there will be those who criticize his music and those who love his music, despite the decisions he makes along the way.
Jump to now, only six years after releasing his first album, Manners. While there has been criticism surrounding Kindred, Angelakos sees it as the third installment of a trilogy of albums defining what he believes to be Passion Pit’s iconic sound.
“I just wanted to actually make a good Passion Pit record,” Angelakos says. “I knew that wasn’t maybe going to be my best record, but in five, six years, people can look back and be like, ‘These three albums together make perfect sense.’ It’s a cohesive body of work.”
Kindred was an important release in Angelakos’ career, not only because it helps establish Passion Pit’s signature sound. This album is remarkable also because of how quickly it was produced, regardless of the emotional turbulence Angelakos has experienced in recent years. Angelakos opened up to the public about his bipolar disorder in 2012, after cancelling six shows to improve his mental health. Passion Pit’s songs, made up of melancholy lyrics contrasted with upbeat sounds, parallel almost directly the feelings he was experiencing, and sometimes continues to experience, while cycling through the all-encompassing battle he has come to know as bipolar disorder.
Working through something like bipolar disorder can dissuade even the strongest of spirits, but Angelakos hasn’t let it stop him from doing what he loves. Instead, he focuses on the one saving grace of anything like bipolar disorder, depression or anxiety: It will get better.
“It gets better in pieces,” Angelakos says. “It still sucks as you transition. As you transition, you have to continually remember that you’ve gotten to the point where you are not in transition anymore and you were fully functional and happy with where you were. You have to keep thinking about the feeling of knowing that you were fine.”
When asked about his music, he denies it as being therapeutic.
“It’s a part of me. Therapy is something that is extrinsic,” Angelakos says. “[When performing,] I get to be this weird version of myself for a few moments and that’s relieving. It’s a drive, just like anything else. You have to eat, you have to sleep, I have to be crazy for a few moments.”
As Angelakos takes the stage for the last show of the Evolution Tour, he leaves his struggles behind and flips a switch in his brain. All of a sudden, he is in performance mode, captivating the audience in the expressive and emotional way he does time and again.
Photo courtesy of Mercedes-Benz USA.
The Healing Power of Music
Share