The Pains of Being Pure at Heart– Everything With You
It’s near irrelevant for any modern indie guitar band to cite The Smiths as an influence. If your guitars dare to jangle, we know you’ve listened to Johnny Marr. New York’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are no different in their early inspirations (at least according to their press release), and there are certainly shimmers of Hatful of Hollow electric intricacy. But there’s so much more on offer here than lazy stereotyping.
Past the picking is a voice reminiscent of a more comprehensible Kevin Shields, produced to be offer a distant omnipotence, as well as excitable drums and discordant undercurrent that would aspire to self-indulgent shoe-gaze were it not for the occasional spark of a welcome riff to offer populist reason.
Not as good as The Smiths of course, but they shouldn’t try to be.
7.3/10
Release Date: 24 Nov
Experimental Music Love 