No. 39 of 2011: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong

To some degree, this year in music has been marked by the resurgence of early 90's indie rock influences filtered through a modern equivalent aesthetic. Where a band like Yuck has had a great deal of success channeling early Superchunk and pretty much all the early releases on Merge Records, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart aim for something a bit more accessible, to be honest a bit more mainstream. But this accessiblity in no way implies a compromise of what made their debut so striking. Rather, the leap in fidelity, though in truth they were never fully a part of the lo-fi trend, has only cleaned up and further sharpened the sound which they invoked on their first album. The spirits of unlikely influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins and early Green Day hover over the proceedings, giving the album an unabashedly nostalgic feeling. And the issue of whether or not this is truly homage, or whether the band is simply aware of their place in indie rock's lineage and choose to embrace it, comes down to whether or not you embrace the music on its' own terms and not on their predilection for mining the catchy hooks and bombastic choruses common to alt-rock of the 90's.

Much is made of the seeming exclusivity of indie rock but on Belong, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart show that there need not be a division between what we perceive as the cop-out of mainstream rock and the sensibilities of indie music, at least as far as aesthetics goes. This is a complex area in which to tread because as the line is further blurred by creative bands co-opting, read inverting, the sounds of the mainstream to fit their own particular sound, our ability to differentiate between bands who only want to make money and those who are honestly trying to subvert expectations through musical adaptation is lessened and becomes murkier. But thankfully, the difference is still abundantly evident with concern to this band and this album. Songs like the fuzzed out bliss of opener "Belong" and propulsively catchy "Heart In Your Heartbreak" quickly put to rest any concerns about the integrity of the band. Even with 90's rock-god producer Flood at the helm, Belong never feels hemmed in by any particular set of rules; there is more of a feeling of integration and creative abandon. These guys are leading him, never the other way around. By knowing the difference between what makes a song inherently good, as opposed to what makes it superficially viable to sell, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart get to the heart of their own influences and, with Belong, have taken a further step in cementing their already inimitable musical presence.

Tracklisting:

01. Belong (listen to the mp3 below)
02. Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now
03. Heart in Your Heartbreak
04. The Body
05. Anne with an E
06. Even in Dreams
07. My Terrible Friend
08. Girl of 1,000 Dreams
09. Too Tough
10. Strange