MP3: The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – “Everything With You”
Since forming in early 2007, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have become one of the most talked about pop bands in years. Their distinctive brand of noisy pop is a tidy distillation of all the great noise-pop precedents – early MBV, House of Love, Pale Saints, Rocketship – but with that incredible exuberance and energy that the Pains bring to every song. They have released a handful of singles on classy labels like Slumberland, Fortuna Pop!, Atomic Beat and Cloudberry, each one issued to greater anticipation and even wilder reception. Critical acclaim has come from such varied quarters as Stereogum, Fader, Big Takeover, Indie Pages, Skatterbrain, Drowned In Sound, Indie-MP3, Clash Magazine and uncountable others.
Following up the band’s ace “Everything With You” single and whirlwind Swedish tour, we are delighted to bring you their self-titled debut album. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart is an instant classic, packed with brilliantly-executed pop gems that blend the rush of youthful enthusiasm with crafty arrangements, well-honed tunes and buckets of guitar racket. Drawing on the sparkling legacy of the best of 80s and 90s pop, POBPAH update the timeless noisy pop template with a thoroughly modern viewpoint and a very distinctive, playful personality. There is something instantly identifiable about a Pains tune, and it is the essential “rightness” of their records that has captured the attention of pop fans around the world and raised anticipation levels for this album to a near-fever pitch.
The Pains of Being Pure At Heart delivers on this promise with perfect assurance. Smashing tunes like “Come Saturday” and “Young Adult Friction” are classic three minute masterpieces that simply beg to be played on repeat. “Stay Alive” and “Gentle Sons” show the band can slow it down and still rock it, and “Hey Paul” is as brash a slice of noise-blast guitar pop as you’ll hear all year. Weighing in at a flawlessly-conceived ten songs, this is all the album that Pains fans had hoped for. Handily transcending easy pigeonholes like “indie pop” and “indie rock,” it is just a great album that shows a smart young band fulfilling their potential and crafting a very convincing statement of purpose.
“pitch-perfect noise pop, sounding like it’s 1991 all over again. Impenetrable fuzz and fey mannerisms? Check. Superchunk-like melody? You got it. Can’t miss.” – Dusted
“…just screams for continuous replay, as the catchy boy/girl harmonies wonderfully gel with the jangly, distorted guitars that echoes early My Bloody Valentine and Black Tambourine.” – Yellow Stereo
“If dreamy, ’80s-sounding indie pop is your thing, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart have your number in a big way.” – Time Out NY
“I think it’s safe to say that even if POBPAH split tomorrow, people would still be talking about them and listening to their records for years to come. They’re not an ordinary band, they’re something special, something exciting, something to celebrate.” – Indie-MP3
“…addictive pop gold that locates a place beyond the band’s well-chosen influences.” – Stereogum
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART
Dec 2 Arts Center w/ The Wedding Present Colchester
Dec 3 Wedgewood Rooms w/ The Wedding Present Portsmouth
Dec 4 Academy w/ The Wedding Presnet Oxford
Dec 5 Princess Charlotte w/ The Wedding Present Leicester
Dec 6 Academy w/ The Wedding Presnet Manchester
Dec 8 Pavillion w/ The Wedding Present Cork
Dec 9 Andrews Lane Theatre w/ The Wedding Present Dublin
Dec 10 Limelight w/ The Wedding Present Belfast
Dec 12 Captain’s Rest Glasgow
Dec 13 The Cockpit: w/ The Manhattan Love Suicides Leeds
Dec 14 The Social Notthingham
Dec 16 “Twee as Fuck” @ Old Blue Last -w/ Comet Gain London
Dec 17 The Lexington – Fortuna Pop + Spiral Scratch Present London, London and South East
Dec 18 Forum w/ The Wedding Present London
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
S/T
(Slumberland)
Street date: Feb. 03, 2009
1.Contender
2.Come Saturday
3.Young Adult Friction
4.This Love is Fucking Right
5.The Tenure Itch
6.Stay Alive
7.Everything With You
8.A Teenager in Love
9.Hey Paul
10.Gentle Sons
THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART LINKS:
MySpace – www.myspace.com/thepainsofbeingpureatheart
Band Page – www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com
Press Materials – www.slumberlandrecords.com/press/pobpah/pobpah.html