''Tremendous Sea of Love'' is the fourth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

Passion Pit Passion Pit is an American indie pop band from Cambridge, Massachusetts. Formed in 2007, frontman and keyboardist Michael Angelakos is the band's primary recording member. As a touring act, the band currently consists of Angelakos (vocals, syn ...

, self-released on

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on March 24, 2017, and later officially released on July 28, 2017. Frontman and producer

Michael Angelakos Michael John Angelakos (born May 19, 1987) is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the indietronica band Passion Pit. Career Passion Pit (2008–present) The first Passion Pit songs, ...

expressed a desire to embrace authenticity and rawness with the album in interviews. It was positively received by critics, who noted this intentional rawness and a more mature overall sound compared to the band's previous album, '' Kindred''.

Background and production

frontman

had expressed a desire in a late 2015 interview to make his music more authentic, and a more accurate reflection of his own life. During February and March 2017, he uploaded

self-released Self-publishing is an author-driven publication of any media without the involvement of a third-party publisher. Since the advent of the internet, self-published usually depends upon digital platforms and print-on-demand technology, ranging fr ...

ten songs forming ''Tremendous Sea of Love'' to a

channel for The Wishart Group, Angelakos's company that offers legal and healthcare support for musicians. The songs have since been taken down, but Angelakos announced that he would give a downloadable copy of the album for free to anyone who retweeted neuroscientist Michael F. Wells' tweet on the importance of science and research. Angelakos posted a now-deleted reflection on the album to

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, part of which stated that "today to edit, to revise, is to propagate a culture ��that is scared of acknowledging the truth and that is saying YOU ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH". On July 12, an official release date was set for July 28 on all streaming services.

Critical reception

''Tremendous Sea of Love'' was positively received by critics. Ian Cohen of ''

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'' praised the album's rawness, and said it was a reaction to its predecessor, '' Kindred''. ''

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''s George Fenwick also praised the album's "startling clarity" and "rawness", further stating that though some elements felt "disparate and scattered", that this may have been intentional on Angelakos's part to challenge established industry norms. ''

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

''s Tyler Clark argued that the album was a "return to heno-stakes music-making" of Angelakos's earlier records, such as ''

Chunk of Change ''Chunk of Change'' is the debut extended play (EP) by American electropop band Passion Pit, released on September 16, 2008, by Frenchkiss Records and Columbia Records. A video for the single " Sleepyhead" was released in October 2008, directed ...

''. Clark also called the album a "tremendously personal sonic journal". The album also received reactions prior to its release on streaming. ''

Vox Magazine ''Vox'' was a British music magazine, first issued in October 1990. It was published by IPC Media, and was later billed as a monthly sister-magazine to IPC's music weekly, the ''NME''. Although ''Vox'' was seen as IPC's response to EMAP's ''Q ...

'' said the album was a "far cry from a marketable project", but said it had a more polished and mature sound than ''Kindred''. They further commented that the band appeared to be "prioritising artistry over commercial success" by self-publishing the songs to YouTube.

Track listing

References

__FORCETOC__ {{Authority control 2017 albums Passion Pit albums