The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
The Pains of Being Pure at heart number four, and those four are Peggy Wang (keyboards and vocals), Kip Berman (guitar and vocals), Kurt Feldman (drums) and Alex Naidus (who plays bass). They’re from Brooklyn, which is in New York, which is in America.
They formed for a gig to celebrate singer Peggy’s birthday. Because they are cool and from New York, the gig was held in a warehouse. Because they are cool and from New York, they played five songs, with four chords, in ten minutes. Because they are cool and from New York, they rehearse in a rundown loft.
They put their distinctive sound down to the fact that, in a recording studio at least, they don’t really know what they’re doing – their remarkable self-titled debut album was their very first foray in to producing an LP, and bravely, they did it all themselves, at Honeyland Studios in Brooklyn. It was mixed by a hero of theirs by the name of Archie Moore, famous for his work in Black Tambourine and Velocity Girl, and is out now on Fortuna Pop! Recods.
They agree that Bandwagonesque, A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness and Sittin’ Pretty are, to quote Kip Berman, “about the most amazing records that can exist.” They’ll be touring the UK in December as support to The Wedding Present, which is about as perfect a match as one can get.
THEPAINSOFBEINGPUREATHEART.COM: In the days when most bands seem to neglect to make an official website at all, relying instead solely on a MySpace profile to constitute their entire web presence, the lengths to which The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have gone to make a decent site for themselves should be applauded. Amongst the many delights here are two entirely free MP3s of tracks from the new record.
MYSPACE.COM/THEPAINSOFBEINGPUREATHEART: That said, their MySpace isn’t without its charms – tour dates, music, the chance to become lifelong friends, the lot. It’s all here.
FORTUNA POP: A fine little label, Fortuna Pop – check their roster for other things equally charming, and here’s hoping The Pains’... record is the one that propels them in to the stratosphere.
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