No Growing Pains

The brilliantly named New York indie popsters, Pains of Being Pure at Heart, have gone HUGE. In saying this, im not referring to their ubiquity (or lack of), but their sound. Their new album, Belong is streaming for free on their website. And so back to the sound, well, its massive, polished and brilliant. Awesome crunching guitars replace the coy fuzz of their debut. Gone with tweeness in with boldness. The production is crisper, and the whole affair feels less shambolic.
                             They have always had a way with a tune just check out "Contender" or "Young Adult Friction" from their last LP, but occasionally the vocals seemed lost in the mix and the songs didn't quite assert themselves as much as they could have. Occasionally, great songs were slightly lost under their scuzzy, unassuming style. But they've kept the basics: they're still writing instantly catchy goodtime lovesongs, indebted to Belle & Sebastien, Camera Obscura and shoegaze bands.
                        However, there are some new influences. The band recently cited their love of The Smashing Pumpkins in an interview which suprised me at first, but not now. The album reminds me of the Pumpkins at their most anthemic, as in "Today", for example. This is blissed out summery music made in the archly English tradition wherby if there is melancholy it is buried under a jolly melody and minor chords.
                              They also seem to have an abilty to blend various disparate influences into an impressive and unique whole. Like musical magpies pinching the tidbits from a great record collection: a bit of Smiths style jangle here, some Pumpkins distorted guitars and quiet/ LOUD dynamic there, and all enveloped in MBV fuzz / loved up vocals. But with BIG choruses that MBV lacked. They are like a streamlined, modern version of all the above bands devoid of all indulgence, and so damn catchy you could clean the house to them.