As the Pains of Being Pure at Heart celebrate the 15th anniversary of the release of their debut self titled album, we publish our originally review reviewed by Fliss Collier:
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are a real robust live act, worshipping at the helm of My Bloody Valentine rather than Talulah Gosh. Twinkles of Just Like Heaven era Cure keyboards ice layers of buzz saw guitar in an at odds perfect blend not seen since 90s shoe gaze band Lush.
Those who missed out on capering about sticky indie disco floors in the cardigan-flaunting fey 80s can currently enjoy a resurgence, with The Pains of Being Pure at Heart as part of the charge. Back then, ‘indie’ was for outsiders and was shorthand for ‘awkward’, ‘shy’, ‘geeky’, in the sense of not being able to get a girlfriend, and dressing like a librarian was for the dejected, whereas now indie – the uncool – has become cool, and dressing twee and shy has become quite a fashion and cause for celebration.
There are shoe gaze daydreams that swirl and glide/grind along (‘Stay Alive’, and single ‘Come Saturday’) and heavenly pop anthems are giddily delicious. It’s all rather sweet – albeit bittersweet. Song titles recall Sarah Records bands’ efforts in their lovelorn or celebratory tone – ‘Contender’, ‘This Love is Fucking Right!’, and ‘The Tenure Itch’, and I think of The Field Mice in particular fondly – but there’s more kick and spike to the music of The Pains, and less of the soppy sensitive and sinewy self-pity.
I must say, it’s a shame that the album closes with a song that raids the top drawer of The Jesus and Mary Chain‘s unlocked treasure chest, it’s a 3/1 drumbeat that’s become hackneyed amidst C86 revivalists and just too obvious a steal (do some of these bands not listen to any other albums?). But as the last guitar howls into a feedback screaming scree, the album comes to a stop with the perfect finality, and it all felt like – if not a first rate debut album – but a cracking, smart exemplar of achingly pretty things to come from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.
