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

As if the band’s name wasn’t an obvious enough pointer as to what to expect, the album is littered with references to its influences – ‘This Love is Fucking Right!’ is a dead ringer for My Bloody Valentine’s ‘Paint a Rainbow’ (albeit in slowed-down form), whilst the song’s title tips its hat in the direction of The Field Mice’s ‘This Love is Not Wrong’. As pleasant as all that sounds, it’s for the best that The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have enough tricks in their locker to ensure they don’t slide aimlessly into retro fanboyism.

Lead singer Kip Berman certainly sounds the part, his studiously British vocal mannerisms falling somewhere between Morrissey and, curiously, The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess, with the odd hint of Ride’s Mark Gardener thrown in. Although he sticks resolutely to the C86 blueprint, his self-consciously fey affectations feel totally at home here, aided and abetted by some (though more would perhaps be welcome) lovely backing vocals from keyboardist Peggy Wang.

Wearing your influences on your sleeve is one thing, but it can be a killer if you don’t have the tunes to hold the listener’s interest. Luckily, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart boasts plenty of them, though the best come in a clutch of three. ‘Come Saturday’ is instantly thrilling, propelled at breakneck speed by drummer Kurt Feldman’s fine Colm O’Ciosoig (My Bloody Valentine, for the uninitiated) impression. Not enough drummers do that, I say. The excellent ‘Young Adult Friction’ is another upbeat highlight, whilst the ‘The Tenure Itch’ is more introspective but no less effective, all tense, jangly guitars and nervy vocals coming to the fore.

There is the odd occasion where the band strays into the formulaic, though. ‘Stay Alive’, although pleasant enough, is too close to Going Blank Again-era Ride for comfort, and ‘Contender’, the weakest song here, is a peculiar choice for an album opener. ‘A Teenager in Love’, whilst not the schmaltz-fest the title might imply (it’s a about ‘a teenager in love with Christ and heroin’, so, y’know), is also pretty skippable.

It’s unlikely to appeal to anyone who isn’t already well-versed in this sort of thing, but if you wish My Bloody Valentine’s entire career had sounded like the Sunny Sundae Smile EP, you will almost certainly love The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. Even those who are slightly harder of heart won’t necessarily be immune to its charms, and there are precious few bands who do this sort of thing this well. Worth a few spins, for sure.