I know it has been awhile since I posted a review, I’m on my way finishing up with the Home Sick mixtape so I will be back on grind soon enough. While doing a hundred things I came across an album I shouldn’t have had in the first place. Manners has been somewhat of a guilty pleasure of mine since last year. Manners isn’t a bad album just a bit too poppy for my taste but I still like the album. I came across this album the same week I got the Drive soundtrack so I guess I was in the mood for 80’s type pop music. If anything I guess I have to thank Amazon for the related music slot. Didn’t then and still don’t know much about Passion Pitt now but I refuse to really go Wikipedia crazy about them.
Manners starts off strong with “Make Light” which truly sets the tone and bar of the album. Again it’s just the vibe of Manners that gets in a feel good state of mind. That feeling slides into what I figure was a hit single for Passion Pit since I’ve never heard this band on the radio at all, “Little Secret”. “Little Secret” is one of my favorite songs on the album and that is because it is 100% catchy, again I’m not supposed to like catchy ass songs… AT ALL. Iremember hearing this and not knowing what the hell the words were but the music had me locked. Once I did figure out what the lyrics were I really embraced the song. My other favorite on Manners is “Eyes As Candles” which isn’t as intoxicating as “Little Secret” but is just as poppy and catchy as fuck. The “la la la” singy songy style plays a major part of the songs beauty and coolness as the song switches up pre chorus. A song I like but not really is “Swimming In The Flood”. I love it because I get it not head over heels with it because it reminds me of something I’d hear on “urban radio” back when the sound the song has was hot for a minute. It begs for Whale, Wiz Khalifa or anyone doing their thing now to show up and spit a quick eight bars.
If there are fails on here it would be the odd yet still not bad “Sleepyhead”. The sped up sample sounds out of date even as it fits the song perfectly. The vocal melody sounds too much like “Little Secrets” for my taste. Still the song isn’t bad at all it just has too much going on at times. “To Kingdom Come” has an unlikely fusion going as the guitar riff sets things off just to have the calm somewhat melancholy setup lightly get an uplifting twist musically. Again these aren’t really bad things just a bit not what I was ready for when I first heard Manners and even now listening back to it now these songs still aren’t repeat worthy.
I’m not a Electropop person so with this band being one the few bands in that genre I really like My view of them is jaded and purely bias. I really like Manners and have been playing it a lot since I copped it. The poppy sound is hard to escape and so is the urge to want to at the least nod your head to it. Songs like “Let Your Love Grow Tall” is a great example of hearing the poppiness of Passion Pitt. You throw a different music backdrop and the song would be like anything on the radio right now, the song has a melody and music which is a major no no these days. I saw somewhere Passion Pit dropped another album this summer so I will have to get my hands on that and see what’s up with that album. If you like Electropop or just nice retro-ish music or hell good music Manners is a good album.
The Collective Conscious 