Choir Boy
Passive With Desire (Dais Records)
Expanded, deluxe CD/LP

“There have only been a few nights were the crowds have booed us,” jokes Choir Boy vocalist Adam Klopp about his band’s last two years of touring, most noteably with Cold Cave and Soft Kill.

Mining a variety of sounds rooted in ’80s synth pop, Passive With Desire delivers pensive compositions that explore the dualities of faith and fiction, and hope and morality. As a former member of the Mormon faith, and with a rangeful voice that perfectly suits the band’s chosen moniker, Choir Boy’s sweeping and cinematic songs are just as polished and postured for play in a religious house of faith as they are a barroom. Originally released on Team Love in 2016, Dais reissues an expanded, deluxe version of the CD edition, which comes with a 12-page lyric booklet, and combines the album with tracks from the Sunday Light 7″ and the band’s Part Time Punks cassette. The vinyl edition comes in clear, black, red splatter, metallic red and black vinyl variants.

While the reissues are welcome, the band aren’t resting on their laurels and fresh blood is sure to lead in intriguing future directions. “[Recent addition/keyboardist Jeff Kleinman, formerly of Nervosas, has brought] the saxophone, which is a wonderful addition. I think that will be his main voice of his that comes through on future songs,” Klopp previews.