Live Review Passion Pit/Ellie Goulding 
Leeds Met, 4 March 2010
Live Review: Passion Pit/Ellie Goulding
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Goulding - a 23 year old pop singer who’s song are more KT Tunstall than Kylie - was heralded as ‘one to watch’ for 2010 way back in 2009, when the charts went retro electro and anything that didn’t sound like Kate Bush or Duran Duran just wasn’t cool, granddad. Goulding is no more indie than Dan Black, Little Boots, La Roux and all those other glittering synth-led starlets squashed into an already dated pigeonhole, which is ironic, considering that it was technically dated to begin with.
Goulding cuts a diminutive figure on stage, with bouffant hair and comfort pants, backed by a skinny jean trio of boys from a H&M catalogue, and her small stature matches her somewhat empty sound. You can’t help but think that this might not be her fault, as her pleasant songs would probably sound better strummed acoustically to match her succinct, soulful warbling. But the trendy bleeps and drum machines make it all sound like other performers who do it all a lot better. She only really lets go on the last track, ‘Starry Eyed’, which is her best and most well known and has all the girls dancing, awarding a nonchalant nod from their boyfriends.
Goulding’s set in short despite her rising stardom, possibly as a cursory to not upstaging the main act, Massachusetts’ Passion Pit, who’s Manners album is at least more diverse than Goulding’s, introducing funk elements to samples, big pop choruses and glimpses of old fashioned techno. Passion Pit use a voice modulator to hit those really high notes, which is a lot more annoying in a live environment than on record, and is used to ill-effect on practically every number.
This is electronic music under license from an indie band that would look much more at home drinking chai latte in the green tent at Glastonbury than they would be pilling it at Creamfields. That’s not to say that there aren’t great tracks in here; ‘Little Secrets’ is a mammoth throwback which gets a committed reception, along with ‘Sleepyhead’, which also featured on the band’s better debut EP, Chunk of Change. There’s none of the subtlety of Hot Chip, and not enough of the unabashed disco of LCD Soundsystem, which makes you worry that if this is the sort of electroclash future we have to look forward too then perhaps we should just give it up right now.
Posted on Tuesday 9th March 2010
Ben Johnson
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