These words echo and swirl about a simple, essentially childlike synth line before a swell of guitar noise brings us to the first couple of lines of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s latest record: “If all your questions answer all the same / And all this tension makes the matter so plain / See you like sea blue from a desert shore / how much I need you, I just want you more,” (from the new song “My Only”).

Upon first impression, it appears as though the album is setting itself up for what the band usually does best–love songs that recall the likes of 80’s new wave with a necessary twinge of modern indie pop. Lyrically, though, it’s a bit more developed, as frontman Kip Berman considers the growing pains of adulthood and becoming a father.

There’s ebbs and flows–the high energy pop songs are soon followed by mellow acoustic sound and repetitive, melancholy lines, such as “I wanted to die with you,” (from “Anymore”). The album represents a relationship in that way without presenting the performative aspects intended for display to the public eye–which people are all too familiar with in a social media-centric world.

Instead of the narrative depicting a couple’s sparkling, honeymoon beginning or drowning in the heartbreak shown in so many albums of this genre, we are allowed to view the dulled out, comfortable shimmer of something sustained. If 2014’s Days of Abandon is the honeymoon phase of a relationship and its rushes of desire, then Echo of Pleasure is the cozier state of routine couch dwelling, empty beer bottles and takeout food.

Notably, POBPAH’s past works did a better job at conveying that polished post-punk sound with a hint of goth rock, while Echo of Pleasure comes off as a little sugary sweet. But it’s not always a bad thing–in fact, sometimes the best way to address somberness is with a smile.

Tracks such as the “The Garret” stand out the most, suggesting a strong nod to Echo and the Bunnymen’s “The Cutter” with its slightly off-rhythm guitar licks and screeches. Even Berman’s vocals seem to settle into a croon that sits deeper than his usual airy tone. Jen Goma’s (also of A Sunny Day in Glasgow) voice shines in “So True,” so much so that one feels a void in the the rest of the record without her prominence. Her soulful line, “If you don’t lose some skin for the things you believe / how can you know that you really do?” is hard-hitting and heartfelt, exhibiting the essence of the record, which is that of showing commitment and sticking around for the people and things we care about.

Reciprocally, “When I Dance with You” is a fun little dance pop jam with the continual “oh oh ohs” reminiscent of the band’s ever-popular hit, “Simple and Sure.” To the unfamiliar ear, the track’s vocals could be mistaken for something by the likes of early Walk the Moon or Vampire Weekend. It’s a good choice for a single as it appeals to and could even serve as a gateway to the radio rock crowd. The music video is swoon-worthy, too, with its fuzzy, retro televisions and psychedelic, spinning backdrops.

“It doesn’t look like a lot on paper,” Berman told NPR of the song, “but the sentiment is the underpinning of what love is.” In other words, sometimes affection can be felt at its deepest in the moments of just “feeling okay” (which also happens to be the chorus of the song) rather than in instances of intensity and novelty.

Overall, when it comes to achieving a record that is more accessible to a wider audience, Echo of Pleasure delivers. Older fans might be disappointed by the shift in the band’s progression in terms of sound, but will still find a track or two that stick to the band’s earlier roots.

Echo of Pleasure is available to stream on Spotify and Apple Music. The physical release of the record can be purchased here.

The post KRUI Album Review: The Echo of Pleasure by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart appeared first on KRUI Radio.

Epigraph (noun): a short quotation or saying at the beginning of a book or chapter, intended to suggest its theme

Ubiquity

“There’s a menace in my bed. Can you see its silhouette…?”

                                                            Trouble (Stripped) – Halsey

I’m catching glimpses of your silhouette in trees,

and the air their leaves breathe is hot with your company.

Like fiery, foggy breaths on the back of my neck and

melting into the crease of my lips.

You dance around my shadow

until they blend together as one, slow-dancing

in the dark patches that hide from the sun.

I ask of you to try to mimic your displaced silhouette

with mine—feel me ghosting across the streets you walk,

as a menacing soul of your troubled past, of our

troubled mutual existence. I hope you see me in the trees.

I hope you carry me like the gravel in your boots,

as a constant prod at your (sole). And I hope you are haunted

with the fact that your ghost

comforts the menace in me.

Can you see its silhouette?

                        Can you see my silhouette?

Split Second

“We’re the alley cats. And they can throw their stones…”

                                                            Empty Gold – Halsey

There was something about the alley walls behind the bar

that called us home, as though they sheltered future secrets

we did not yet know. That night we discovered its potential,

I thought you would offer me a smoke off your calloused fingers

but you offered to take on the world with me.

For you, it was more than having someone

to brush the dirt off your knees. It was about

having someone behind you to catch the back of your collar

before you ever hit the ground.

When feudal parents became too much, it was someone

to seek refuge with in the timelessness of the bricks. The nights

we spend with our knees pressed to our chests, throwing

rocks at our shoes and kissing between guitar solos

that shred scars in the air behind the wall against our backs.

The place where your rough whispers snake through my ears

with the softest of intentions. The place where the blood

splattered on the concrete is not ours, but we pretend we know

the beaten, because it makes our cold brick house of secrecy a home

to the golden moments of teenage escape.

The Release

“Did you know that I can lift a car up all by myself?”

                                                            I Can Lift A Car – Walk The Moon

I left a part of myself at the barricade that night, where

the sounds washed over my skin and absorbed into the

cloth of my dress. It sounds like a careless mistake to say

I left it there. I won’t lose it, I won’t lose it, I won’t lose it,

I won’t lose it… but I promise it was a purposed loss.

We lift our hands to the sky, palms up

to the stage lights and the stars. The combined rawness

of our negative energies mingle in the air above us. I watch

our invisible demons fight one another behind my closed eyelids

until they dissolve into a smoke. My chest presses tightly

to the gate, suddenly numb to anything in the physical world.

Everything but the voices soar into space.

I can lift a car up. I can lift a car up all by myself.

We are committed in this moment to the strength we possess,

to no one but ourselves and the power in our veins.

The cars above our heads dust our palms with rust

that blows away in the wind. I press higher, the tips

of my toes barely touching the ground now, my body

a feathery hover between the smoky remains of my demons

and the clouds that were built for me to stand on.

I finally open my eyes. A thousand other voices scream

the same song as me. A hundred thousand other demons,

who do not and will not know me, dissipate to nothingness.

I remember that I am not alone. That night,

I left a part of who I was at the barricade.

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