With the intention of creating a Valentines Day gift for his then girlfriend Christine, Cambridge based Passion Pit started as a one-time/one-man project of Michael Angelakos. The resulting EP, Chunk of Change quickly found its way onto the iPods of his friends at Emerson College, who then passed it on to their friends and acquaintances. In late 2007, Michael (vocals, keyboard) teamed with Ian Hultquist (keyboards), Ayad Al Adhamy (synth/samples), Jeff Apruzzese (bass) and Nate Donmoyer (drums) and Passion Pit became a live band. After playing just a few shows, they were voted best new act according to The Boston Phoenix.
This article appears in Dec 2-8, 2000.