The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Okay, so maybe The Pains of Being Pure at Heart—how’s that for an unwieldy band name?—is no more than the sum of its record collection. The fact is, it’s a damn fine record collection, and would surely be the envy of any self-respecting indie music lover. Whether the band has its finger on the pulse of indie rock trends or they simply have good taste is irrelevant; what matters is that their self-titled debut—already a hit with the Pitchfork set—is a terrific little pop album that packs a punch despite the heavy debt it owes to so many bands that came before The band’s influences may point to the past, but their energy and their craft are thoroughly in and of the moment.

As big as noise-pop has been in indie circles lately, it’s no surprise that this band trades in the more dissonant, murky sounds of indiedom: Listen to their debut and you’ll hear heavy doses of early, Murmur-y R.E.M., Pixies, and My Bloody Valentine, as well as a dozen or more shoegaze favorites. But what stands out isn’t the star-studded roster of inspirations, but the careful pop craft that lurks at the heart of all this darkness.

Hard as these noise-pop outfits may work to maintain a dense, gauzy layer of feedback and studio chaos, there’s no masking the clear melodicism and serious work that goes into making a pop album as catchy as this one; the layers of noise are arranged very deliberately, to ensure that, even at the album’s murkiest, all the cling and clatter does nothing to obscure how thoughtful these compositions really are. It all sounds very easy and tossed off, but it takes some serious pop skills to construct something as rich and memorable as the multi-layer vocal hooks in “Young Adult Friction” or the keyboard-enhanced indie anthem “Stay Alive.”

The album is, at times, a study in contrasts; on one end, you’ve got the throbbing bass of Alex Naidus, who gives these songs their pulse and prevents them from disappearing into the fog, but he’s balanced by some high-pitched keyboard sirens, and especially by the earnest, clear-as-day vocals of Peggy Wang-East, who at times adds a whole new dimension to these songs. And then there are the lyrics. References to summer parties and youthful leisure pepper the album, but, for every promise of a lazy August day spent with the air conditioner on high, there are dropped hints of suicide and incest—just subtle enough to lend a certain creepiness to the proceedings without quite saying anything tangible.

It’s obvious that the band learned these tricks from the best; an addictive sugar-rush of an album like this one could only be the result of aping the pop masters. But therein lies the album’s big drawback—hooky and sophisticated though it may be, it leaves no clear indication as to who this band is or what they’re about. Any identity of their own is completely clouded by their idol worship, which simultaneously provides the album with its smarts but also robs it of much of its personality. Time will tell whether there’s more to this band than their record collection or not, but, for now, this debut is an assured, promising one that could make a fine stepping stone to more ambitious and personal albums down the road.

Related posts:

1. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart- Young Adult Fiction
2. I Heart Lung
3. Health – Get Color
4. No Age – Losing Feeling EP

Tagged as: New York, Noise pop, Noise Rock

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