I discovered Passion Pit‰’s song “Take a Walk‰” about a week ago, and ever since I cannot go a day without giving it another listen. All of Passion Pit‰’s new album Gossamer has me enthralled in an odd way. I do not usually listen to bands like Passion Pit. Sure, I‰’ve relished in MGMT‰’s vibrant, electronic pulse before, but never with much dedication. I experienced the obligatory brief obsession with The Killers too, and I still love Franz Ferdinand, but I found those bands before The Mars Volta sent me hurdling through a musical puberty of sorts. It seemed to me that despite some shared taste for the best flavors of all genres, I‰’d find most of my musical obsessions in progressive rock.

So it surprised me that once I started listening to Gossamer I could not stop. The vibrant electric hum of every track soars off the chorus of ethereal falsettos. Each song feels profoundly peaceful and energizing. Gossamer does not drone like a lullaby, but when that pounding beat comes flying in and the vocals pick up, it makes reality feel all the more like a pleasant dream. When the album slows it fluidly seeps into the ears and when it pops it swells with electricity. Gossamer connected with me on a deeper level even still. The way it flowed, the way it talked, everything about it encapsulates my perception of sophomore year in college.

Sophomore year of college feels swell. You do not have to adjust nearly as much to a change in circumstance as you did freshman year. You‰’ve learned enough of the in-and-outs of your school‰’s organizations that you even have a better idea of what you want to do and easier time pursuing it. You probably even picked your own roommate, or at very least have a better understanding of how to deal with your new roommate. You have friends to return to, professors that you know, maybe even a favorite cafeteria worker to talk to. College is familiar, college might even be like home.

The year will not be a cakewalk. Homework still looms on the horizon, and here in D.C. if you don‰’t have an internship, you‰’re likely caught up in looking for one. You do not get another year to decide your major, and even with your preferred studies so close by, you still need to slog through general education courses that can really bore. But all of that is natural. Who goes through a year without needing to overcome any obstacle? You still have great prospects, compared to the difficulty of oncoming years and the uncertainty of previous ones.

When I listen to Gossamer I am happy in just the same way that I am this year. I can hear the lyrics, and they are foreboding. Passion Pit hits at some hard stuff, but it all sounds light beneath the wash of that sweet vibrant beat. The sun on that horizon will only dim, and even now I can feel the press of the heat. The job market‰’s still dim, and it hardly helps that I am not sure where I want to end up once the sun sets. Luckily, the sun‰’s still up and a few friendly faces still shine a lot of light on my day. At the end, dinner with friends and a chance to write everything out comes blasting through like an insipid up tempo beat, ready to tackle any morose set of lyrics.

By Austin Ryan