The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
It's Not a Diary Entry, It's Brooklyn's Next Buzz Band
By Andrew Clayman
Published in The Cleveland Scene (Version 1) and Nashville Scene (Version 2), May 2009



Cleveland Scene:

Obscure subgenres age like a fine wine in New York City, waiting for a generational shift to bring them back to prominence—like Interpol playing post-punk or Vampire Weekend dusting off their Graceland LP. In Brooklyn, the epicenter of all things hip these days, the new-old thing of ’09 is noise-pop, re-championed by a fresh batch of the borough’s most huggable punks. First it was the Vivian Girls, then Crystal Stilts, and now we get The Pains of Being Pure At Heart-- an affable gang of distortion-loving pop tarts who’ve had critics recalling cult heroes like The Field Mice, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and Black Tambourine.

“It’s been incredibly surprising,” says Pains singer/guitarist Kip Berman, referring to the overwhelmingly positive reviews of his band’s eponymous debut LP. “I mean, our standard for success had basically been like Black Tambourine— having 12 people care, and hopefully caring very sincerely. That’s obviously been exceeded now [laughs]. But when we started out, it wouldn’t be unusual to see maybe six or seven people at our shows. And we were psyched about that! If anybody cared, we were happy. So what’s happened now— it’s a surprise, but definitely not taken for granted whatsoever.”

Of all the influences routinely cited in The Pains of Being Pure At Heart’s sound, Black Tambourine might be the least known but the most significant. An early ‘90s, D.C. area quartet, Black Tambourine never released a full-length album, and they broke up before embarking on a proper tour. With historical context, though, they became legends of “noise-pop”— a faux genre of sorts that blended punk aesthetics with bubblegum melodies and thick feedback. With these parallels in mind, it comes as little surprise that former Black Tambourine (and Velocity Girl) guitarist Archie Moore served as the mixing engineer on the Pains’ album.

“We were really psyched to work with (Moore),” Berman says, “because he was in these bands that we admired so much, and he’s a lot more capable mixing engineer than we would have been on our own. In the studio, though, our main goal was just to sound like us. We didn’t want to be artificial or phony or try to do anything that wasn’t natural to us. We just wanted to record these songs that we wrote and loved, and let them stand on their own.”

The Pains aren’t keen on being pigeonholed as revivalists, but part of their reputation as such is a result of their own actions, such as signing to Slumberland Records— the iconic former home to many of the band’s noise-pop predecessors. Berman makes no apologies.

“Once Slumberland showed interest in releasing the album, there was no second thought in our minds,” he says. “The label has such a strong history of releasing amazing American pop music, including a lot of bands we loved growing up. But even more than that, they’re releasing great music by current bands like Crystal Stilts and Cause Co-Motion! I think the Slumberland people are just genuine music fans, and they’ve done everything they can to support the artists they believe in, so we’re very fortunate to be a part of that.”

All things considered, The Pains of Being Pure At Heart are living the pop geek’s dream. Berman, along with keyboardist/singer Peggy Wang, bassist Alex Naidus, and drummer Kurt Feldman, started the band as somewhat of a fanboy novelty in 2007, but to their credit, their music has never drifted from homage into straight copycatism. They can craft a hook with the best of them, and their high-energy shows leave the crowd wanting more. The only question is, will the Pains’ reverence for a band like Black Tambourine entice them to vanish as quickly as they appeared?

“I suppose we could try to solidify our status by committing band suicide, so to speak,” Berman says, “but that’s not really our style. We’re having a really good time playing music and plan to keep doing so, so you shouldn’t worry about us!”




Nashville Scene:

There are a lot of reasons why a song called “This Love is Fucking Right!” has emerged as the most talked-about track from Brooklyn’s new noise-pop kings, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. First and foremost, it’s the catchiest single off the band’s eponymous debut LP, which arrived to some major fanfare in February. Secondly, to the fanzine geeks of the indie-pop community, it’s an obvious response to the 1989 Field Mice classic, “This Love Is Not Wrong,” making it cooler by association. More than anything, though, people seem really interested in the song’s anthemic chorus, during which singer/guitarist Kip Berman proclaims, “You’re my sister / And this love is fucking right!” Apparently, to some misguided listeners, this lyric sounds like a proud celebration of incest. Rather than mocking the perversity of that reading, however, I think I’ll let Mr. Berman set the record straight himself.

“Well, as far as lyrics go, we generally don’t like to dictate the meaning that a song has to a listener,” he says. “Everyone should be able to have their own feeling about it—there’s not really a right or wrong.” Kip is not helping his case at the moment. “…But I should add that, yeah, that song is definitely NOT about incest.” Phew! What a relief!

Fact is, the word “sister” has been used figuratively in pop music for ages, so no secret subtext there. However, for those who still need a deeper meaning, “This Love Is Fucking Right!” does have a back-story.

“Well, there’s definitely a Field Mice reference in there,” Berman says. “I mean, why have a ‘love that’s not wrong’ when you can have a love that’s ‘fucking right?!’ That’s kind of the feeling of our band in a nutshell. We’re not going to be all apologetic and ask ‘is this okay?’ We’re going to be really affirmative and positive, and if we fall on our faces, that’s fine. We’d rather be sincere and emotionally honest.”

That philosophy has made The Pains of Being Pure At Heart a perfect addition to Brooklyn’s growing noise-pop revival, even though, like their pals Vivian Girls and Crystal Stilts, they deny any involvement in a retro movement. In truth, though, Berman, singer/keyboardist Peggy Wang, bassist Alex Naidus, and drummer Kurt Feldman deserve a lot of credit for paying homage to their influences without shoplifting from them. The touchstones are somewhat obvious—The Field Mice, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Black Tambourine—but the Pains are their own unique force, and they’ve put together a collection of inspired, memorable tunes.

“Our goal was just to sound like us,” Berman says. “We didn’t want to be artificial or phony or try to do anything that wasn’t natural to us. We just wanted to record these songs that we wrote and loved, and let them stand on their own.”

That being said, the Pains didn’t hesitate to sign with old-school noise-pop’s seminal label, Slumberland, nor could they contain their excitement at having former Black Tambourine and Velocity Girl guitarist Archie Moore mix their album. It’s all a part of the delicate line this band walks between 1989 nostalgia and 2009 relevance.

“In the beginning, our standard of success was basically like Black Tambourine—having 12 people care, hopefully very sincerely,” Berman says. “So, to see the response we’re getting now is a huge surprise, but definitely not something we’re taking for granted whatsoever.”

It should be noted that Black Tambourine sealed its legend by breaking up the moment they got noticed.

“I suppose we could try to solidify our status by committing band suicide, so to speak,” Berman says, “but that’s not really our style. We’re having a really good time playing music and plan to keep doing so, so you shouldn’t worry about us!”