The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart: s/t

The problem with indie-pop is that regardless of how seamlessly or impressively you fuse the two elements together, it still loses its steam at some point during the listening process.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart attempt a stab at the aforementioned genre with their eponymous debut and almost manage to get away with an entire LPs worth of inoffensive joviality but, unfortunately, it just manages to stop itself mid-sprint and become a panting, sweaty mess before the last seconds fade.

What's immediately noticeable about the record is that the band are actually pretty talented and well-suited to what they're playing. The guitar is jangly and loose the entire time, evoking a Shins-but-not-quite rhythm to the music. Likewise, the percussion never overpowers a single track which, for an indie-pop record is a surprise in itself. Hints of lo-fi, dream-like distortion wash over the background of the entire album, creating a solid standing block for the rest of the music to balance on. It's all impressively tight and foot tappingly enjoyable but it's also glaringly thin and falls into the trap of 'same is better' instead of 'better is diversity'.

All the tracks sound relatively similar and there's not a single song that attempts anything experimental throughout the entire duration of the album. The final track manages to stick one cautious limb out of the box but still doesn't do much else besides fiddle with the 'epic' knobs and buttons: and only an inch more than anything before it. Considering the overall duration of the record twiddles its thumbs around the half an hour mark, it's really disappointing to tire of the music after only four or five full listens.

The album needs an anchor, something to keep bringing people back. There's nary a single memorable track on the album and even though the music is as impressive as it is, that isn't enough to warrant continuous listens to something, that, ultimately goes nowhere.

Contender, Young Adult Friction, Stay Alive and Come Saturday are all insanely catchy and well produced slices of perfectly made indie-pop and are all honestly better than half of the stuff you hear on the radios today. The Tenure Itch is almost a gentle paddle into the waters of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah vocalism but apart from that, there's just not much else the band seem capable of doing.

If you like your music intelligently simple and care-free then this album should already be in your possession, it does exactly what it sets out to do and does it with ease. If however, you veer towards a deeper and more challenging listen then we'd seriously recommend you divert your attention elsewhere.