The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Electric Ballroom, London 8/6/11
4/5
By: Matt Tomiak
Their first album was a delightfully wide-eyed hodgepodge of shoegaze, C86 and noise-pop. But The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are growing up.
The young NYC quartet are back in London to plug a sophomore album, Belong, a record given added bite thanks to chartbusting stadium rock producer Flood’s muscular efforts, recalling rock titans Dinosaur Jr, Pixies and Smashing Pumpkins.
There’s still a familiar sunny jangle of tracks like ‘Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now’ and singer Kip Berman’s demure lisping vocal remains intact, but coy allusions to clandestine trysts in the library have been substituted with bold references to ‘fishnets and leather’ in ‘The Body.’
Older TPOBPAH material benefits from the beefier sound they’ve been honing recently too - ‘Stay Alive’ tonight develops into a sumptuous sonic ear-splitter in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, but it’s good to be reminded via the double-whammy of ‘Come Saturday’ and ‘Young Adult Friction’ of the rambunctious charm that won us over in the first place.
Artists in this article: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
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