Thursday, April 24, 2014

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Simple and Sure
6.2/10

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an indie twee rock band from New York, USA. This track is taken from their forthcoming album called Days of Abandon which will be released in May 2014 by Yebo Records. The track begins with a simple sing-along vocal part which recalls the style of Dirty Projectors. The strummed verse sections sound rather similar to many tracks The Pains have produced before, if perhaps a bit chirpier and sunnier. However, it's the arrival of the chorus which makes me cringe whenever I hear it - like something you'd expect to hear on an 80's easy listening radio station, with a hook that is anything but memorable. The band have apparently moved too far to the 'pop' end of their musical spectrum, and forgotten that what made their past material great was the interplay of clever, suggestive lyrics with a sweet and sour delivery that conveyed shy yearnings. This saccharine sweet track is a huge disappointment after a run of extremely enjoyable singles and albums, and the song's title really sums up the one-dimensional feeling of it, they've chosen to go with something 'simple and sure'. Let's hope when the full album arrives that this is a sugary deviation from what Days of Abandon will actually sound like.

No comments:

Post a Comment