The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Review

(Slumberland)
Release Date: 02/03/09

Cringeworthy emo-circa-2001 name + indie-circa-1987 guitars = brilliant 2009 songs
This Brooklyn quartet goes for the dazed guitar fuzz of ’80s British miserabilists like the Cure or Ride, except stripped of the neuroses those bands flogged into an artistic world view. For these kids, My Bloody Valentine records aren’t psychedelic visions—they’re makeout music. So the Pains rev up the tempos and temper their shoegaze guitar grind with warped chords and pop organ hooks, resulting in melodic gems like “Come Saturday” and “Contender.” And when they kick into the cheerfully libidinal “This Love Is Fucking Right!” they blow away any trace of melancholia, proving that, fortunately, their hearts aren’t so pure after all.

Download “This Love Is Fucking Right!,” “Come Saturday”

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