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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “When I Dance With You”

Brooklyn-based The Pains of Being Pure at Heart dropped the first single, “When I Dance With You” to tease their new album. Coming from the band’s fourth-full-length LP, The Echo Of Pleasure, there is a sense of the storytelling that the band brings to each track through the lyrics. A deeper crawl into love and the emotions that come along the way. Matching the theme of love, the instrumentals bring lighter and upbeat textures to the song. Whether it is they joy-filled synths or the upbeat vocals; there’s a lot of positive energy built into the track. Listen to “When I Dance With You” below via SoundCloud.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – “Poison Touch”

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have reached that “can’t do wrong” status with me. Their fuzzy and sometimes reverb heavy take at indie pop is near perfection in my eyes, and it may not be better exemplified than on their latest track, the shimmering and peppy, “Poison Touch.” Set to be included in the expanded edition of 2014’s Days of Abandon, the song once again features Jen Goma of A Sunny Day in Glasgow on lead vocals. “Poison Touch” stands up well next to Days of Abandon‘s best track, “Kelly,” also featuring Goma after former member Peggy Wang moved on from the band. The expanded edition of Days of Abandon will be released next week on September 23rd. [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/168036509″ params=”color=ff5500″ width=”100%” height=”166″ iframe=”true” /]

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart – Days of Abandon

When The Pains of Being Pure at Heart debuted in 2009, the band endeared instantly.  A song like “Young Adult Friction” felt wide-eyed and wistful, vividly realized and alive with youth. The tracks on Days of Abandon, the New York City act’s third album, are aged and exhausted in comparison, sleepy little getaways squatting on acres of sound long occupied by Belle & Sebastian. The record’s stronger second half partly compensates for its listless start. “Eurydice” stands out as a legitimate pop single, full of gentle longing and loss. Yet both Nick Cave and Arcade Fire have performed better art rock takes on the Orpheus and Eurydice myth, and the track still suffers from the same aesthetic gutlessness that permeates most of the album. “Until the Sun Explodes” fares better as a brief nova-burst of twee energy. Perhaps a cleaner, more naked production approach makes Days of Abandon feel less rapturous and[...]