| Gossamer | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | July 20, 2012 (2012-07-20) | |||
| Recorded | 2011 | |||
| Studio | Gigantic, New York City | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 47:28 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Producer | ||||
| Passion Pit chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Gossamer | ||||
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Gossamer is the second studio album by Americanelectropop bandPassion Pit. It was released on July 20, 2012, byColumbia andFrenchkiss Records. Recorded in 2011 in Los Angeles and New York City, the album was produced byChris Zane, who also produced the band's debut albumManners (2009), and lead singerMichael Angelakos.[4]
In an August 2010 interview withNME, Angelakos stated that work had already begun on the follow-up toManners, and that the band intended to release the album in the spring of 2011. "It's gonna be a really fantastic, exciting, beautiful, gorgeous record. An absolutely beautiful record. I'm so excited", he said.[5] The album's title and release date were announced on April 24, 2012.[6]
"Take a Walk" was released as the album's lead single on May 8, 2012.[7] The accompanying music video, directed by David Wilson and supported by The Creators Project, was shot in Philadelphia from the perspective of abouncing ball usinghelicam technology.[8][9]
Second single "I'll Be Alright" was released on June 12, 2012.[10] It received exposure after being featured on the video gameFIFA 13, and received "Best New Track" status byPitchfork.[11]
"Constant Conversations" was released as the album's third single on July 9, 2012, and was featured as "Best New Track" byPitchfork.[12] An official remix of "Constant Conversations" by American rapperJuicy J premiered on February 28, 2013.[13]
"Carried Away" was released on January 8, 2013, as the fourth and final single from the album. The music video, directed by Brewer, was released on February 14, 2013, and featured American actressSophia Bush.[14]
A music video for promotional single "Cry Like a Ghost", directed byDaniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, was released on March 27, 2013.[15]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 76/100[16] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [17] |
| The A.V. Club | A−[18] |
| Chicago Tribune |  [19] |
| Clash | 6/10[20] |
| Drowned in Sound | 8/10[21] |
| The Guardian | [22] |
| NME | 8/10[23] |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10[24] |
| Rolling Stone | [25] |
| Slant Magazine | [26] |
Gossamer received generally positive reviews from music critics. AtMetacritic, which assigns anormalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received anaverage score of 76, based on 36 reviews.[16]The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan commented that Angelakos' "ability to create sunlight and sparkle with an arsenal of sequencers and computers remains consistent, and is the album's real point of interest."[22] Russell Warfield ofDrowned in Sound opined that "while retaining [the] overactive production style, Angelakos manages to makeGossamer feel more effortlessly human, more like the self-realised artistic vision of an individual thanManners ever came close to being."[21]Pitchfork's Ian Cohen describedGossamer as "an overwhelming album about being overwhelmed, a bold and ultimately stunning torrent ofmaximalist musical ideas, repressed anger, and unchecked anxiety."[24]The A.V. Club's Ryan Reed foundGossamer to be "more elegant than its predecessor" and concluded, "ThroughoutGossamer, Angelakos sounds broken and confused, wrestling with his demons, cage match-style, on an oversized stage [...] But despite the emphasis on struggle,Gossamer couldn't sound more assured."[18]
James Christopher Monger ofAllMusic stated, "Though the environment that birthed the appropriately titledGossamer may be a bummer, the end product is winningly majestic as it is obviously spun by the most malevolent of spiders."[17] John Calvert ofNME wrote that "one quibble is thatGossamer never really comes down off itsHaribo rush, which gets exhausting. That said, when they do ease up, as on theboudoir-funk 'Constant Conversations', it resembles the two-a-pennysynthpop that clogs the blogosphere."[23]Rolling Stone's Jon Dolan expressed that the album is "roomier and more varied" than its predecessorManners.[25]Chicago Tribune writerGreg Kot viewedGossamer as "asoul record disguised as buoyant, uptempodance-pop."[19] Benjamin Aspray ofPopMatters felt that the album is "as scrappy, outsize, and infectious as anyone could hope for, and as shrill and cloying as anyone could expect."[1] Sam Walker-Smart ofClash called the album "a colorful twelve-track ode to joy", but noted that "the album's main fault [is] how every track merges into one big goofy smile-a-thon while never delivering a number as exciting as previous hit 'Sleepyhead'."[20]Slant Magazine's Kevin Liedel critiqued that "much ofGossamer plays as though it were constructed (however poorly) from ['Sleepyhead''s] template [...] The band, in effect, seems to be desperately chasing a winning blueprint", adding that apart from the song "Constant Conversations",Gossamer is "true to its name: colorless and precariously thin, with precious few bright spots."[26]
The album was listed at number 18 onUnder the Radar's "Top 100 Albums of 2012", and the magazine commented, "Fueled by the confession, guilt, and cathartic honesty of frontman Michael Angelakos, [Gossamer] is one of the most lyrically painful records of 2012. It also happens to be one of the year's most musically euphoric, stacked to the brim with electro-pop."[27]Gigwise namedGossamer the 20th best album of 2012 and opined, "Rarely has an album been better named;Gossamer is delicate, light, and oh so finely spun. It's despondant while having no time for despondancy; sadness lurks underneath but only to remind us that there are so many other things we could be doing, emotions we could be feeling."[28]
Rolling Stone placed the album at number 39 on its "50 Best Albums of 2012" list and stated it is "shinier, busier and even more hysterically earnest than their debut: Angelakos' falsetto ricochets like laser light, chipper gals coo smoke-machine choruses amid hot electronics and cool string arrangements."[3]PopMatters ranked it at number 66 on its list of "The 75 Best Albums of 2012", writing that the album's title "speaks volumes about the contents, a thinly veiled peek into the psyche of singer/songwriter Michael Angelokos."[29]
Gossamer debuted at number four on theBillboard 200 with first-week sales of 37,000 copies, a career best.[30] The album had sold 216,000 copies in the United States as of April 2015.[31]
In the United Kingdom, the album sold 2,444 copies to enter theUK Albums Chart at number 56, one position lower than its predecessor,Manners.[32]
All tracks are written byMichael Angelakos
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Take a Walk" | 4:25 |
| 2. | "I'll Be Alright" | 4:23 |
| 3. | "Carried Away" | 3:42 |
| 4. | "Constant Conversations" | 3:56 |
| 5. | "Mirrored Sea" | 4:06 |
| 6. | "Cry Like a Ghost" | 4:23 |
| 7. | "On My Way" | 3:47 |
| 8. | "Hideaway" | 3:51 |
| 9. | "Two Veils to Hide My Face" | 0:34 |
| 10. | "Love Is Greed" | 4:20 |
| 11. | "It's Not My Fault, I'm Happy" | 5:06 |
| 12. | "Where We Belong" | 5:00 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "American Blood" | 4:24 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 13. | "Almost There" | 4:17 |
| 14. | "American Blood" | 4:24 |
| 15. | "Constant Conversations" (stripped) | 4:19 |
| 16. | "Take a Walk" (Burns' SFTCR version) | 4:10 |
| 17. | "Take a Walk" (☆Taku Takahashi & El Poco Maro Remix) | 6:00 |
Credits adapted from the liner notes ofGossamer.[35]
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| United States (RIAA)[48] | Gold | 500,000‡ |
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Label | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Australia | July 20, 2012 | Sony | [49] |
| Germany | [50] | ||
| United Kingdom | July 23, 2012 | [51] | |
| United States | July 24, 2012 | [52] | |
| Japan | August 8, 2012 | Sony | [34] |
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)