The Pains Of Being Pure AtHeart @ The Hi Fi, Melbourne(02/02/2012)

Tue 7th Feb, 2012 in Gig Reviews

Walking into the Hi Fi last Thursday night felt like stepping into 1992. Listening to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart on record provides a pretty similar experience, but even still the sea of faded sweaters and beat-up Nikes was a bit surreal. The New York indie-popsters seem to have one of the more diverse audiences around, with a strange mix of aging hipsters and next-generation shoegaze fans turning out for their Laneway Festival sideshow.

Bodies trickled down the stairs to the sound of local three-piece indie rockers Pop Singles, who provided a pleasant introduction to the night for a dedicated few. The trickle became a steady flow as ex-Crayon Fields frontman and fellow Laneway performer Geoffrey O’Connor drifted onto the stage. Emerging from torrents of smoke and mood-lighting, O’Connor greeted his hometown audience with a healthy dose of material from his recently released album Vanity Is Forever. The live setting gave these songs a much darker edge, and by the midpoint of his set things had definitely started to feel a bit creepy. O’Connor proved to be an engaging frontman in his own subtle way, but this wasn’t quite enough to prevent the crowd chatter from consuming the latter half of his set.

On record, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart manage to weave a washy, nostalgic exuberance into everything they do. This faded energy is what makes their songs work, so it was strange and disappointing to see it lacking in their live show. Things looked promising as the band bounded onto the stage, picked up their instruments and launched into old favourite This Love Is Fucking Right! But the whole thing really didn’t feel right. Kip Berman’s usually reverb-drenched vocals were strangely dry, and the warm fuzz of the band’s signature guitar tone was conspicuously absent. The whole thing seemed too direct and straightforward, and with the nostalgia sucked out of the music, it all came across as pretty bland.

At first it seemed as though the mix may have been to blame. Recent singles Belong and Heart In Your Heartbreak both appeared early on and sounded a bit lifeless, but by the time Everything With You came around things seemed to be a bit more balanced. Even then however, there seemed to be something missing. The mix may not have helped the band along, but Berman’s pitch issues continued to be a problem throughout the night. There was also no real light show to speak of, and the band themselves weren’t much more of a spectacle. Berman’s nervous energy was a clear focal point for the set, and Peggy Wang was quietly charming behind her keyboard, but the remainder of the band may as well have been nailed to the floor. The crowd were similarly motionless, and the vibe in the room remained a bit strange and uncomfortable all night.

Towards the end of the hour set, things started to drag a little. There were a couple of high points – Say No To Love being one of the more memorable – but sadly this performance saw many fantastic songs reduced to filler material quality. Thankfully, Kip Berman’s solo encore of Contender offered up a high note to end the night on.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have a lot to offer; that much is obvious from their recorded work. Maybe this was just an off night, but it was hard not to leave feeling disappointed.