On first listen, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart appear to be a throwback to 20-year-old Alternative, and that tag never completely dissipates. But as I start to draw comparisons, I can't think of any band--current or old--that does it better. As tracks go by, I can hear hints of one of my favorite artists, and then another, and another. Consequently, I fail to hold them to the feats of some pioneer of AltRock. Whereas a band like Crystal Stilts might ring Joy Division in my head instantly, The Pains have perfected their sound so well that it's become uniquely great.

Sonically they're like you'd expect. Slightly distorted guitars playing chords over drums and bass are joined by male/female harmonies and draped in reverb. Song to song the album flows easily because of this overarching texture, and the chord sets don't veer very far from standard pop (I IV V but not much vi). This is all pretty evident in the ballad, Stay Alive, which goes from strummed clean to shoegaze distortion between chorus and verse. It's a great album and along with a few others, gives a lot of promise to the year ahead. This one will be on my rotation for a while.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Stay Alive.mp3 more buy