The Pains of Being Pure At Heart

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are an American indie pop band from New York City, formed in 2007. The band currently consists of core member Kip Berman (vocals, guitar), Christoph Hochheim (guitar), Jessica Weiss (keyboards, vocals), Jacob Sloan (bass) and Anton Hochheim (drums). Former members and contributors include Peggy Wang (keyboards, vocals), Connor Hanwick, Kurt Feldman and Alex Naidus.

After an excellently hectic summer of 2014 which saw the band make two trips over to Europe for a fistful of festival appearances, sell-out shows at the Scala and Hoxton Bar & Kitchen and heaps of radio fun for the 'Until The Sun Explodes' and 'Kelly' single releases the Pains headed out for a massive US tour with The New Pornographers. Along the way fierce panda released a refreshed digital version of 'Days Of Abandon' which arrived armed with five extra tracks.

And why the hecking heck not? Ostensibly a creative vehicle for singing guitarist Kip Berman (and musical friends), The Pains have been crafting supercool soundscapes since 2007 via a plethora of coloured vinyl 7" singles and a multitude of love letters from the blog community. 'Days Of Abandon' came off the back of two critically acclaimed records - 2009's self-titled debut and the 2011 follow-up, 'Belong' - that demonstrated the group's ability to shift musical registers from bedroom pop daydreams to Alternative Nation anthems. 

A firm advocate of the classic album format, Berman whizzed up ten songs in 37 minutes for 'Days Of Abandon'. 'Simple And Sure' was a proud, ringing introduction to a record which rocketed from Aztec Camera to Camera Obscura in the indiepop firmament without tripping over any awkward twee roots. Teasingly for an act which infamously listed its influences as “Life, Death and The Pastels” this third album was a veritable sugar rush of melodies and moodswings which moved The Pains ever further from the lo-fi indie underground and into the sonic light.