Pit’s sunny pop hooks belie personal demons of lyrics

Two weeks ago, the Boston electro-pop outfit Passion Pit made its debut on “Saturday Night Live,” a huge honor for the band’s bass player Jeff Apruzzese, a lifelong fan of the show.

But besides the thrill of hanging out with their favorite cast members — “Fred Armisen and Bill Hader were going out of their way to be nice to us” — the appearance was notable for being perhaps the five-year-old band’s best television performance so far.

“It was the first time we’ve done a TV performance where we weren’t nervous,” Apruzzese recalls. “The environment felt right. We’ve done a few other late-night spots, and we always felt jitters. This one we all felt really excited and confident, and I think that shows in the performance that we gave.”

The SNL shot is just the latest touchstone in the meteoric rise of Passion Pit, which is on a world tour that includes a stop Saturday at Memphis’ Minglewood Hall. Up next for the group is a spot on the soundtrack to next month’s surefire blockbuster, “Twilight: Breaking Dawn, Part 2,” perhaps the ultimate in youth cachet these days.

It’s all taken Apruzzese a little by surprise. Four years ago, he was a recent Berklee College of Music graduate working a new job at The Apple Store when college friend Ian Hultquist called him about subbing on bass in his new band.

“When I joined the band, nothing was really happening,” he recalls. “I played three shows over the summer, and one of them happened to be a showcase for Frenchkiss.”

The New York indie label, which has helped launch breakouts like The Hold Steady, The Antlers and Local Natives, quickly grabbed up the young band and in 2008 released the EP Chunk of Change, a raw, unmastered collection of songs that had initially begun as a belated Valentine’s Day gift for Passion Pit singer-songwriter Michael Angelakos’ girlfriend.

At about the same time, the band’s core lineup began to coalesce with the additions of Apruzzese’s college bandmate Nate Donmoyer on drums, and the group won best new band in a local music poll.

The next year, the band put out the full-length record Manners, which was widely acclaimed for its marriage of ebullient, danceable ear candy with surprisingly dark subject matter. Songs from the record, including singles “The Reeling” and “Kingdom Come,” subsequently popped up on TV, film and commercial soundtracks, and the band toured with acts like Muse.

This summer, Passion Pit released Gossamer, a record that replicates the formula of heavy lyrical content juxtaposed with sunny pop hooks. But this time the myriad demons — including substance abuse and suicide — lurking under the surface seemed to come alive with an accompanying article on Pitchfork.com chronicling Angelakos’ personal struggles.

“I think Gossamer is a lot more honest (than Manners),” says Apruzzese. “With everything that happened with the timing of the release of the record, I feel everything is there and all the songs are very literal. It doesn’t take much to listen to the material and figure out what’s going on. That’s on a lyrical level. On a musical level, the programming and arrangements Mike did on this record are so much more mature and miles ahead of the last record.”

Like its predecessors, Gossamer is a one-man show, with Angelakos doing all the writing and recording by himself. Once the record is released, it’s up to Apruzzese and his bandmates to recreate Angelakos’ vision on stage.

“It’s kind of like when the building has been finished, we then take it apart … rebuilding it together in a more stable format that can be played every night,” he says. “Live, there’s a lot more energy in the songs. That’s the best compliment we can get. Some people are worried that the material on the record won’t be carried forth with the same energy live. But it’s a lot more energetic and in your face.”