The Pains of Being PureAt Heart - Belong

Wed 30th Mar, 2011 in Music Reviews

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have always been a band defined by their influences. Their much hyped 2009 debut was steeped in the sounds of the 90s. It was a scrappy, blissful affair about being young and being in love, which tempered the abrasive qualities of shoegaze of bands like Ride and Black Tambourine, with the twee sensibilities The Field Mice and The Pastels. The album had that rare quality of sounding familiar yet fresh, and on their sophomore LP Belong they’ve extended that sound even further.

Extended isn’t the right word though. Perhaps tightened would be more appropriate. For _Belong- the band recruited legendary producer Flood, a man whose producing credits read like a who’s who of 90s alternative music. Smashing Pumpkins, Depeche Mode, Nine Inch Nails and My Bloody Valentine, it’s a pretty impressive resume, and from the first squall of feedback on the title track of Belong, you can hear his influence.

There is more space between the instruments than on POBPAH’s first album, the guitars sound cleaner, more defined. It seems that every element of the track has a definitive purpose. The noisier elements of their music no longer seem like a texture or an aesthetic choice, they’re a way to create emotion, like the hazy peaks and builds on stunning ballad Anne With An E or Jesus and Mary Chain soundalike Girl of 1000 Dreams.

With obvious help from Flood, POBPAH have expanded their musical palette to embrace elements of grunge rock. The searing guitars on Belong and the following track Heaven’s Gonna Happen Now wouldn’t sound out of place Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.

Lead single The Heart in Your Hearbreak shows how far the band has come. The track has everything; chiming guitar lines, bass breakdowns, Kip Berman’s breathy vocals, awesome puns about love, a huge, smile inducing chorus, and all in under four minutes. It’s hard to imagine them producing a track so well structured, with such glistening production, when they first appeared.

Thankfully though the band still sounds as bright and vital as they did two years ago. The choruses are still huge, cathartic, the harmonies as gooey as ever. They still sing about teen dreams and breaking up and getting back together, and it’s still pretty brilliant. Album closer Strange is a perfect example. It’s all swirling guitars and pounding drums, Berman’s soothing croon and Peggy Wang’s soaring keyboards. It’s a sad song, but not in a depressing way. Of course, the influences are there for all to see and yet the sound is completely their own.

POBPAH would have been teenagers in the 90s. They would have been living the songs that they sing about. And while their music’s matured, it’s refreshing that they still sound so young, like they haven’t grown up.