7inch #recordoftheday
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Young Adult Friction
2009, Slumberland Records / Charts: –
Als die New Yorker Band The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart um 2007/2008 in der Szene auftauchte, war sie ein wunderbarer Throwback zum Indiepop der späten 80er, dem C86-Sound und alten Sarah Records – Platten. Wie Pitchfork zum Debütalbum richtig anmerkte: Pains Of Being Pure At Heart „made a slyly confident debut that mixes sparkling melodies with an undercurrent of sad bastard mopery, and you’re just being a dick if you think the past has some kind of patent on that. That’s just the way good pop music works“ und hat folgerichtig damals auch „Young Adult Friction“ auf Platz 30 in ihre Jahrescharts gesetzt.
Ganz so gut wie auf dem Debüt sollte die Band nie mehr werden, auch wenn „Heart In Your Heartbreak“ (2011, auf Belong) und „When I Dance With You“ (2017, auf The Echo Of Pleasure) immer noch schöne Hits waren, wobei letzterer gar einen erstaunlichen New-Order-Vibe mit in den Mix geworfen hatte:
Mehr wird wohl auch nicht mehr dazu kommen, hat Pains-Kopf Kip Berman doch vorgestern das Ende der Band verkündet:
„My life has changed radically from the time I started Pains with Peggy, Alex and (soon after) Kurt in 2007, and I’ve decided to focus on a new project @the_natvral.
Pains was a distinct moment in my life. I started the group when I first moved to New York and completed our last record, “The Echo of Pleasure,” shortly before my daughter was born and I moved to Princeton, NJ. From that time forward, I never really felt the same – and the music I was creating didn’t feel the same either.
This is good, both for my heart and my music.
I know some of you equate “PAINS” with a particular lineup of people, but I’ve always felt that whoever I collaborated with has been “the real band,” because what animated the music was so consistent. But now, that strange something that inspired what we were able to create is absent. What has taken its place feels very different, and I have to express it in a new and different way.“
