The Pains of Being a Band With an Awful Name

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

It was a few months ago that a friend of mine asked if I was listening to a band called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. I laughed in his face. Sorry Greg, but I did. Could a band with a name like that be taken seriously? Obviously they take themselves seriously enough to go ahead with it. And so I scoffed and scoffed and blew their house down. I had no interest in listening to band with such a silly moniker.

How many people, then, must have seen the rave reviews of the band’s first self-titled album and wondered what they were missing? I was one of those people. So naturally, despite the fact that my last.fm charts would display that I’ve been listening to a band called The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, I decided to give it a spin. Yeah, I’m self-conscious. Big whoop, wanna fight about it? 

 

Thanks to my wonderful spirit of tolerance, I’ve learned not to judge a band by their stupid name. Not only does their music not sound like teenagers trying to kill themselves with Smiths albums, it’s generally upbeat and happy. It’s got that 80’s movie vibe that I fell in love with last year on M83’s Saturdays = Youth. That’s not to say that they are similar sounding records, because they aren’t at all. The Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound a lot more like The Jesus and Mary Chain. The theme of both records is nearly the same though. Frankly, who doesn’t want to feel like an 80’s ginger kid enjoying his or her youth? I know I was only a single digit aged child for the duration of that polarizing decade but I’ll be damned if I told you I don’t enjoy the hell out of the media it left behind.

So in short, check out this album even if the name makes you feel like you need to take a hot shower and burn your clothes like Ace Ventura did after he found out Einhorn was Finkle. It’s a damn good listen and with the weather turning warm again, it will fit in perfectly.

Check out The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s website

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