The cover art for Passion Pit’s ‘Tremendous Sea of Love’; Photo: Passion Pit
After Passion Pit released Tremendous Sea of Love back in March, frontman Michael Angelakos went public with his concerns about continuing in the music industry. On Jul 23, he tweeted that he’d had enough of being in the business of music.
“Until it is safer and healthier for us to be advocates, to be a writers, producers, and performers, I simply cannot continue making music,” he said.
Music became a burden for Angelakos, it seems, being a “commercialized artist,” as he put it.
“I cannot continue to operate in this space, this industry, due to the way that it functions and treats people that work for it or create within it,” he said. “It does nothing to promote the health required in order to produce the work it sells.”
That health he’s talking about is not just physical, it’s mental as well. He’s been open in the past about his bipolar disorder and depression. And they often appear in his songs, like in “I’m Perfect” from this record, where he asks to be reminded of his value:
Just tell, tell me I’m so damn perfect
Tell me it all of the time, oh
Tell me I’m so damn perfect
Tell me it all of the time
In contrast, he said the songs on this album are “not perfect,” mainly because they were “quickly rendered, or written the night before [they were] uploaded, [were] mixed to the best of my ability,” according to his open letter. Even though the songs weren’t perfect, “they were honest,” he said.
Furthermore, Angelakos hopes to see honest systems put in place to encourage and assist the healthiness of artists in the music industry.
“Music is a luxury,” he said. “We are so lucky to have it. And if it is not a luxury, as people are telling me otherwise, saying it is absolutely essential to our culture, then I’d like to see systems in place that reflect this sentiment, not just financially. Protecting health is the first step in maintaining a culture’s artistic output.”
