Over the past few weeks Michael Angelakos, the songwriter behind indie electro-pop band Passion Pit, has been dropping new tracks into an unofficial Youtube channel. The collection of nine songs so far, entitled Tremendous Sea of Love, can be found at the Wishart Group.
The Wishart Group project was started by Angelakos to support musicians by providing them with legal, educational and healthcare services, with a focus on mental health. Angelakos has been particularly vocal about mental health throughout his career. His struggles with bipolar disorder have caused him to cancel tour dates in the past, and he recently released a statement regarding a show in 2009, where he suffered a breakdown on stage.
“That was not the art. But it was perceived as the art. It was perceived as insane, as melodramatic, as a cry for help. It was beyond a cry for help—that cry had been ignored, had been dismissed, had been mistaken for the antics of a ‘snowflake,’ ” he wrote in a Facebook update on Passion Pit’s official page. “And in this immensely defiant, beautiful way, I made it work. I ended up going to a hospital. My suicidality had reached such over-saturating, overwhelming shriek, and no one could understand it, so it was time to go away for a minute. That was later diagnosed as dissociative psychosis.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qp0ur2NsgAY
Passion Pit’s music has always dealt with relationship and substance abuse struggles due to mental health issues, but with the Wishart Group, Angelakos is taking his message a step further. Instead of promoting his new music with a traditional ad campaign, he’s trying to spread awareness about mental health issues by releasing his music for free to a smaller, more dedicated audience. It’s a bold move that hopefully pays off for other musicians.
With much of music industry crumbling at this point, Passion Pit is just the latest artist this decade to break away traditional album releases. In the last 10 years alone we’ve seen the free-release model explode beyond the confines of rap mixtapes; ever since Radiohead stunned the music industry with their pay-what-you-want release In Rainbows, everyone from U2 to Beyoncé to Kendrick Lamar has utilized some version of the shock-your-audience album rollout. The unconventional is now the industry standard.
Kanye West even played with the idea of a “living album” on last year’s Life of Pablo. While certainly not his most cohesive work, the way Pablo changed tracks in ways minor (sound mixing) and major (“Ima fix Wolves”) was previously unheard of and kept the album fresh and in the conversation for months after its release.
What Passion Pit is doing feels like the latest revolutionary promotional strategy for artists who value their music and message over commercial success.
Angelakos is making a smart move by associating his cause so closely with his music. It may only draw the most dedicated members of the fanbase, but anyone who watches the videos are sure to wonder what exactly the Wishart Group has to do with Passion Pit. The hope seems to be that fans have a personal stake in Angelakos and other musician’s mental health in order to see them on the road and making music more often.
The music here seems to fit the message. The songs are smaller in scope, but the intimacy is captivating. Although, nothing here feels like a made-for-radio single like “Sleepyhead” or “Take a Walk.”
It helps that the songs on The Wishart Group channel are much better than most everything on the disappointing Kindred. The songs on Tremendous Sea of Love are experimental and often feel like demos, but demonstrate a sound that feels evolved, while maintaining the style both lyrically and musically that made Passion Pit first stand out in an already overcrowded genre. Still, none of these songs individually have eclipsed 100,000 views; most videos on Passion Pit’s VEVO channel have gained over 1 million.
This collection could be a precursor for another wide release. That seems to be the prevailing theory, but it would be perfectly fine if these songs don’t get reworked and repackaged to be sold, pressed to vinyl and played on commercials months later.
It might be cynical to believe that the best music comes from pain. But with the sheer number of artists we’ve lost to suicide and addiction, Angelakos’ Wishart Group project has the potential to not just save lives, but careers as well. Not much else is known about the organization at this time, but keep your eyes and ears open and for now, enjoy the groovy new songs. We are lucky to have them.
