Passion Pit - Manners (2009)

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Starry-eyed Massachusetts D.I.Y. poppers Passion Pit have one foot in the skronky, shambling lo-fi underground and one in the flashing-lights big-room dance-pop overground. So it follows that the band would have two labels. In the U.S., they're on Frenchkiss, the small NYC indie run by Les Savy Fav bassist Syd Butler. And in the UK, they're on Columbia, an honest-to-God major label. Complicated!

In May, the band will follow up their much-buzzed-about Chunk of Change EP with Manners , the first Passion Pit full-length. Columbia will release it in the UK on May 18, and Frenchkiss will drop it in North America Frenchkiss will drop it in North America eight days later, also on May 18 on May 26. That's the surprisingly monochromatic cover above.

Before the album comes out, though, the band will play a ton of shows on both sides of the Atlantic, which is the sort of thing you have to do when everyone suddenly decides your band is the Next Big Thing. I can say with some authority that they'll probably be the first Next Big Thing to ever play Syracuse's Westcott Theatre.