“The Naked and Famous” initial outing “Passive Me, Aggressive You” is a solid album that just falls short of being a classic
“The Naked and Famous” consists of a five piece band including: Thom Powers, singer, composer and guitarist, Alisa Xayalith,, singer/songwriter, Aaron Short, keyboardist, drummer Jesse Wood and bassist David Beadle.
In the vocals area both Xayalith and Powers are exceptional. “Punching in a Dream” gives you a contrast between each of their unique voices. Short is superb in his keyboarding duties showcasing his rhythmic talent in songs like “Young Blood.” The string instruments are the weakest of the ensemble. Powers on guitar and Beadle on bass are decent, but drowned out of the big picture; this is one of my only complaints with the album, the heavier guitar segments feel out of place. Wood gets the job done on percussion.
Passive Me, Aggressive You, the product of this ensemble crew of musicians delivers a new entry in the alternative/electronic genre; although it is stated on the band website they are alternative you can clearly hear the electronic nature of the instruments shine through.
Every band has a comparison and The Naked and Famous is no exception. What listeners will notice when the disc spins up and starts playing is that this is a very Passion Pit-like sound; it has that electronic sound to it, with a much bigger emphasis on percussion than Passion Pit.
Passive Me, Aggressive You boasts 13 songs and they are all good in their own way, but just because they are good doesn’t mean it is memorable. When listening to the album there is hardly ever a sense of longevity, you won’t be listening to it in six months.
A classic album is one that stays with you long after the initial buzz of its release is over. A classic is not something that is forgettable you remember it, it endures long after you got it the first time. “The Naked and Famous” initial outing Passive Me, Aggressive You, is a solid album that just falls short of being a classic
The album starts off with “All of This,” and it hooks the listener. It’s a song that you’ll want to sing along to. As mentioned before this band can be associated to Passion Pit, the high pitched vocals will give it away if the electronic style did not already do so, but what differentiates the two is the heavier emphasis on the bass in “All of This.”
It only gets better from there, the next song up is “Punching in a Dream” which is uniquely theirs and highlights the difference between Powers and Xayalith. This is a great song, you will find yourself bobbing your head as it plays. “Punching in a Dream” is definitely a song you will want to listen to over and over.
“The Frayed” is up next, definitely not my favorite of the bunch; they try to deviate from their style for the sake of variety, which is definitely not effective. This song reminded me of older classic rock songs with a modern twist. The vocals had a sort of modern emo style while the instrumentation sounded like it was pulled from an old Journey song. “No Way” also has a similar feel the only difference being that the vocals and instrumentation in general felt like a Paramore song. For those unfamiliar with Paramore, it is an alternative rock band with Hayley Williams providing a strong female vocal lead.
The next song is only being mentioned because it is useless to the album. “The Source” acts as a prelude to “The Sun,” it fits with the proceeding song, but it just doesn’t make sense to dedicate a track to it. I can guess this prelude was put in to keep the song short in length for subsequent radio plays.
“Eyes” goes back to a more electric sound as opposed to the last two. The vocals are understated in this song sometimes being drowned out by the instruments.
Moving from that is their hit single, “Young Blood”; this song is most similar to “The Reeling” from Passion Pit’s Manners album. It’s the complete package; you get great lyrics with good vocal arrangement and great instrumentation. It is easy to see why this was a hit as it’s simply a good song.
This is a good album with an identity crisis. Passive Me, Aggressive You gives you an album with 13 songs that have two different styles to each half. The Passion Pit/electronic
All things considered this is a solid album with some bad design decisions. So now the question remains whether to buy it or not; truth is, it depends. My favorite songs in the album and the ones I recommend to download are: “All of This,” “Punching in a Dream,” “Eyes,” “Young Blood” and the longest song on the album, “Girls Like You.”
But for anyone looking for something solid and have been craving something to listen to this is a great album to pick up. There are those certain songs you will want to listen to multiple times and that overall makes the package more appealing, but not on the highest echelon of music.
Any Passion Pit fans should have a look as well seeing as their most popular song, “Young Blood,” is very similar to “The Reeling.”
“Passive Me, Aggressive You” releases on March 15.