Top 10 of 2012: #5 Passion Pit - Take a Walk 

Passion Pit - "Take a Walk"

It's a song that sounds distinctly Passion Pit for the first few seconds, before bringing in some massive kick drums and cymbals and sounding distinctly un-Passion Pit, except for the signature synths over the top. The rhythm here is propulsive. "Take a Walk" introduces what might be the most straightforward lyrical song that Passion Pit has written, a song about immigrants following the American Dream™, straight into losing your money in the stock market, feigning that you still have that money, and refusing to accept any help the system might offer.

Certainly a timely (and timeless) message and it's a sad story that undercuts a song that is destined to end up on loads of workout mixes for the next couple of years.

Passion Pit (as an extension of Michael Angelakos) might be the band that most easily tiptoes the line between straight up dance music and rock, and "Take a Walk" might be the best example of that.