the pains of being pure at heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart found expression for romantic teenage melancholy in the crunchy sweet melodic shoegaze of this nostalgic fuzz pop euphoria.  Kip Berman, Alex Naidus, and Peggy Wang formed the group in New York.  Berman remembers:    "Alex, Peggy and I were all friends. We’d hang out a lot, go to shows and talk about music and bands pretty incessantly. I had written some songs and asked if they wanted to play them with me. At first it was pretty terrible sounding– we had a drum machine and practiced in my living room and my other roommates would walk by and shake their head and seemed rather perplexed by our attempts at music. Little by little we improved and played our first show at Peggy birthday party with our friends The Manhattan Love Suicides and Titus Andronicus.   A few months later, we realized we had gotten about as far as we could with our limited drum machine programming knowledge, and we invited my then roommate Kurt Feldman (the primary songwriter and guitarist of the now defunct The Depreciation Guild) to play drums. He had a really intuitive understanding of the sound we were going for and almost immediately all our songs felt more alive, more vital than they ever had before. He also helped with writing some of the newer songs for the first record."

The group had set up a Myspace page to upload their songs.  The site drew the attention of music insiders and led to singles being released on such diverse labels as Fortuna Pop!, Atomic Beat, Cloudberry, and Slumberland, which would release their self titled debut.  'The Pains of Being Pure at Heart' was recorded at Honeyland Studios in Brooklyn, New York, and was mixed by Archie Moore with  remastering by Jon Chaikin. The album features Kip Berman on guitar and vocals; Alex Naidus on bass guitar; and Peggy Wang on keyboards and vocals.  Around that time, they picked up Kurt Feldman on drums.  

Berman says:    "[Studio time amounted to about] four or five weekends. Mixing was a separate process. We knew all the songs really well so it was quick...some of the songs on the album we played at our very first show. But we’ve been together for two years, so some of them were really early songs... they are autobiographical or about people in our immediate lives. Every song isn’t about a member of the band, but they are based on our experiences...there’s also a strong underlying positivity [on the album] and I don’t think the sum of it is sad at all. At the end of the day, I think it’s an uplifting album, not a “woe-is-me” album ... Everyone has awkward adolescent experiences, not just kids who love obscure records - and those experiences don't end when you turn 20. We write about our lives, our experiences, the people we know and the things we feel. If anything, I hate that forced sense of prolonged adolescent identity - and moreover that perpetuation of sexless, prepubescent "twee" culture. While at one time it was a clever, political rejection of the traditional institutionalized machismo of rock music and a social world that equated adulthood with conspicuous acts of consumption (the 80s), at this point to style yourself "twee" is such an empty gesture. In an era where Owl City wears cardigans, we need to find a new visual and musical vocabulary. The only mention of sweaters on this record is that they should be removed (Anne with an e - "take your sweater off and wear your spikes againâ ). But then again, I did find a lot of hope in records when I was a teenager - so if people do feel that way from ours, it's cool. I just don't like that pandering "for the kids" gesture, when the kids can decide for themselves what's "for them." Also, I do like sweaters. I'm actually wearing an argyle one right now. Fudge."  








http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com


http://www.thepainsofbeingpureatheart.com/music/the-pains-of-being-pure-at-heart/





"Everything With You"




'The Pains of Being Pure at Heart'
full album:  
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f630Fx79uUo



1 - Contender (0:00)
2 - Come Saturday (2:38)
3 - Young Adult Friction (5:53)
4 - This Love Is Fucking Right (9:59)
5 - The Tenure Itch (13:12)
6 - Stay Alive (16:57)
7 - Everything With You (21:51)
8 - A Teenager In Love (24:48)
9 - Hey Paul (28:10)
10 - Gentle Sons (30:12)