Hailing from Cambridge, New England, Passion Pit is a moderately exciting five-some consisting of Michael Agelakos (soaring falsetto vocals and keyboards), Ian Culturist (keyboards), Ayad Al Adhamy (synthesizer/ sampling), Jeff Apruzzese (bass) and Nate Donmoyer (drums). Fresh out of college, the band’s largely Casio-class pop is beguilingly attractive and amazingly ‘NOW’. The music scene has been bombarded by a barrage of electronica of late and I have to say that a lot of it blends seamlessly into the next batch, so unadventurous is it overall, as it takes a real superstar (or superband) to heft something fresh and alive onto the slab, ready for dissection.

Yet, Passion Pit manages the task with a fair degree of aplomb and I found myself listening to the album for a second and third time just to hear if a deeper message was being extolled. But no. There is nothing else. This is just ingeniously straight-forward cheery pop, with an electronic twist, a useful shot of sampling genius and some otherwise keen instrumentation. What is more, there is not a geeky whiff of Mika anywhere in its vicinity, despite the inevitable electro-disco contortions, and it lacks the spiritual earnestness of Fleet Foxes, instead I receive a distinct feeling that high-pitched Michael and his bearded chums may be balanced on the edge of greatness with this outstanding debut album.

Personally, I think it is a mere inconvenience that there is a hint of Hot Chip about Passion Pit’s sound, which you can probably lay at the door of an attitude issue, rather than any half-baked parody. Mind you, listen to them side-by-side and they are as alike as chalk and cheese. Passion Pit’s performance is friendly, heart-warming and deliriously summery, throughout all of its eleven fulsome tracks. The production values are high and Michael’s falsetto is thankfully nowhere near as annoying as that of any of the BeeGees, living or deceased. I like this one a lot and can see that this is a band with legs.