The Pains of Being Pure At Heart - Belong


The first impression I got of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart was that they were going to turn out to be one of a long list of pretentious indie bands with absurd names and bland music - how wrong I was. Their eponymous debut in 2009 met almost universal praise and the follow-up seems to be getting a similar buzz, being shortlisted for Pitchfork's "best new music" section.

The New York fourtet are essentially a romantic band. There's a variety of nice similarities to the likes of the Cure, the Smiths, 80s Bowie and, of more recent times, Belle and Sebastian about them - with such focus on light-sounding infectious pop-rock that miraculously avoids being corny or predictable. The self-titled opener 'Belong' is a pretty firm hook, clashing grungey guitars against whispered and raspy vocals for a chorus that's something like The Enemy only less...British. Also less exciting, which is some feat. 'Heaven's Gonna Happen Now' sounds more like their debut, a nice Cure (at their poppiest; you're not going to find a Seventeen Seconds track here) pastiche - the lyrical theme in particular drawing an immediate 'Just Like Heaven' similarity.

In 'Heart In Your Heartbreak' wordplay is poured on, amongst glimpses of genuinely emotive lyrics:
And your friends don't understand that the world could end,
And it would feel no worse than this
Every thought of the look in her eye
Like a cold California sky

This is all motored along with a pretty fast rhythm that could do with some more tune than the nice synths towards the end. 'The Body' reminds me heavily of White Lies' debut record, with its far-reaching drums and echoing vocals that's really easy on the ear and pretty catchy but I can't help but feel I know the tune from somewhere else. Aha. Someone on last.fm has said "OMD" and it does sound a fair bit like "Enola Gay" by them.

The standard Motown drumbeat to 'Anne With an E' is a little bit of a surprise but if anything frames the track perfectly. Being as extremely tired as I am this is a bit of a lullaby at the moment which I guess could be conceived as a compliment but it'd be a pretty soporific affair even if I were high off Red Bull. By now the breathy vocals are also beginning to grate a bit, as if every word uttered was somehow heartbreaking to vocalist Kip Berman. 'Even Dreams' follows a very conventional pop-rock riff and chord sequence that it actually reminds me of a Busted song. Not a good thing. (Who's David, if you're asking)

Speaking of not-good-things, 'My Terrible Friend' is such a rip-off of the Cure's 'Friday I'm In Love', or Joy Division's 'Ceremony' that it's not even funny. 'Girl of 1000 Dreams' is a pretty decent wake-up call that varies the sound a little and prevents the record from being a stale collection of ballads. 'Too Tough' passes by in a pretty forgettable blur of MOR, and finally 'Strange' is a little bit of a face-saver; restoring faith in that they still have a bit of interesting songwriting left in them.



It's just such a shame because I was a big fan of their debut - but here all of the soul and cutenesses have been sucked out and what's left is a soft rock-by-numbers personality vaccuum that really doesn't stick out at all, and what used to be a nice variety of tribute sounds has been replaced by uninspired rip-offs. I guess because they wear checkered shirts and have cool hairstyles though that the indie crowd will lap it up. Maybe I've yet to let it grow - but I've had a pretty good day and this just isn't geling with me.

Rating: 5/10
Highlights: The Body, Heart In Your Heartbreak
Avoid: Too Tough, My Terrible Friend, Even in Dreams, Anne With An E

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