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Jul 24, 2012Despite the emphasis on struggle, Gossamer couldn't sound more assured.
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Jul 23, 2012The onetime bedroom artist now makes first-rate pop anthems, gleaming rocketships of sound that wouldn't sound out of place on the radio next to Rihanna or Nicki Minaj. The tone might seem out of step with the lyrics, but it speaks to a certain resilience.
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Jul 19, 2012The revelation in Gossamer is Angelakos's inner voice.
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Jul 24, 2012An album that required a painstaking process to complete but sounds infinitely effortless in its pop arrangements and flicked-off soul ruminations.
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Jul 24, 2012Passion Pit is only getting better.
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Jul 23, 2012Anyone can manufacture hope through a slogan, but there's an empathy and humanity that simply can't be faked as Angelakos tries to figure out how to stay atop his life. It's hard to think of a more noble goal for a pop album.
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Jul 20, 2012It has clearly come from a very damaged part of Angelakos' psyche, but Gossamer is a step up in sophistication and songcraft, and one of the year's stronger pop albums.
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Aug 9, 2012It's an extraordinarily consistent pop album.
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Aug 8, 2012The music shines brighter than most of his pop contemporaries. In fact, the album is so successful on this level that I could choose any given song and laud it as one of the best tracks on the album.
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Jul 26, 2012The end result is an infectious pop album every bit as bright and dreamy as Manners yet far more straight-up, dark, honest and vulnerable.
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Jul 26, 2012It is a modern pop record to be cherished.
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Jul 26, 2012Passion Pit finds the perfect balance of being risky while still being lighthearted.
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Jul 25, 2012Though the environment that birthed the appropriately titled Gossamer may be a bummer, the end product is winningly majestic as it is obviously spun by the most malevolent of spiders.
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Jul 24, 2012One quibble is that Gossamer never really comes down off its Haribo rush, which gets exhausting. That said, when they do ease up, as on the boudoir-funk 'Constant Conversations', it resembles the two-a-penny synthpop that clogs the blogosphere.
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Jul 23, 2012Gossamer is hard to fault, besides the fact that it's more of the same.
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Jul 23, 2012At its best Gossamer is, like its namesake, delicate at first glance but possessed of incredible molecular strength.
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Jul 20, 2012Gossamer is huge, bombastic, and all over the place, spraying synths and outsized choruses like confetti over some deranged future-pop festival.
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Jul 19, 2012A big moment is the ethereal R&B pastiche Constant Conversations, with Swedish a cappella trio Erato, but there are virtually no duds here.
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Alternative PressJul 19, 2012Gossamer is still full of incredibly catchy choruses, dozens of layers of funky instrumental tracks, spazzy electronic flourishes and of course Michael Angelakos' sky-scraping falsetto. [Aug 2012, p.88]
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UncutJul 19, 2012Luckily they are one of the few bands with stadium heft and the tunes to pull it off, rendering their big-heartedness euphorically justified. [Aug 2012, p.78]
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Jul 19, 2012While retaining this overactive production style, Angelakos manages to make Gossamer feel more effortlessly human, more like the self-realised artistic vision of an individual than Manners ever came close to being.
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Jul 25, 2012It is both heart-wrenchingly introspective and jubilant.
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Entertainment WeeklyJul 27, 2012If you can get behind all the cheery falsetto and high-on-life lyrics, their shiny, Flaming Lips-y thing works. [3 Aug 2012, p.74]
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Jul 24, 2012Their second disc is roomier and more varied.
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Jul 23, 2012"Gossamer" opens up the music and lets it breathe. For all the artificial splendor, there's clearly a very human, very troubled voice at the center of these songs.
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Jul 23, 2012Gossamer has enough going on musically to shift the focus away from the occasionally mawkish lyrics.
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Jul 23, 2012While this second album seems genuine, and at times very good, it just doesn't excite and satisfy in quite the same way as the spontaneous creativity of the debut. 'Gossamer' is one giant juxtaposition that can't quite sit comfortably.
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Jul 23, 2012Gossamer's X-ray confessionals offer just enough intrigue to ignore its faults.
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Jul 25, 2012It's as scrappy, outsize, and infectious as anyone could hope for, and as shrill and cloying as anyone could expect.
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Jul 24, 2012Guaranteed to make you cry sugar-coated tears or vomit Care Bears depending on your tastes.
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Jul 19, 2012An impressive and varied second album, but one underpinned by noticeable troubles.
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Aug 14, 2012You're being pulled close, but thoughtlessly, reflexively. And you only feel further away.
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Jul 20, 2012Gossamer is true to its name: colorless and precariously thin, with precious few bright spots.
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Q MagazineAug 2, 2012Gossamer's a pleasant listen, but since when has that been enough? [Aug 2012, p.108]
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Jul 20, 2012Grand and grizzling, 'Gossamer' begs for adoration, but too often leaves an uncomfortably bittersweet aftertaste.
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MagnetJul 20, 2012This wet blanket is a sheer bore. [No.89, p.57]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 104 out of 113
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Mixed: 6 out of 113
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Negative: 3 out of 113
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Aug 18, 2012
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Jul 29, 2012
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Jul 27, 2012