Monday, April 27, 2009
Music news The Pains of Being Pure at Heart wear it on their sleeves
Posted by Ben Westhoff on Mon, Apr 27, 2009 at 1:00 PM
With a cringe-worthy moniker and musical restraint that makes Belle & Sebastian sound like Quiet Riot, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart are not for the casual indie-pop listener. But for fans of fuzzy-guitar-drenched melodies, melancholy songwriting and well-crafted shoegaze, they don’t come any finer.
Formed in 2007, the New York quartet has rocketed to the top of the pops (or at least the top of the blogosphere) through its ’90s-throwback, wall of sound stylings, which have drawn comparisons to bands like My Bloody Valentine and the Jesus and Mary Chain. After releasing a string of singles and EPs and being hyped by outlets such as Stereogum, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart released its self-titled debut in February. The album quickly won praises from the likes of the New York Times and Pitchfork, which named it “Best New Music.” The album “mixes sparkling melodies with an undercurrent of sad bastard mopery,” Pitchfork’s Ian Cohen wrote, castigating critics who peg the band as derivative. “You’re just being a dick if you think the past has some kind of patent on that. That's just the way good pop music works.”
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(Photo by Pavla Kopecna)
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