The Pains of Being Pure At Heart – Belong
For me, Pains is a band that I have to feel like listening to, and even then, they aren’t very accessible. They improved on that, but I’m not sure to what effect. The lyrics are as “twee” as it gets, but the loudness sort of overtakes that, but not enough to zap it away. There are some standouts like the first three tracks, “Anne with an E”, “Girl Of 1,000 Dreams”, and “Strange” – good closer. But I dunno….it was sort of boring, like I’d heard everything before, but done slightly better – My Bloody Valentine or Stone Roses, for example. I’m not sure how they’ve made themselves unique. I like Kip’s voice, and the band’s ambition. However, if you’re going to be Cheez Whiz, you should stand out with it.
Grade: C+. It doesn’t suck by any means whatsoever. Just felt too comfortable. And the lyrics were sort of drowned – “She was the heart in the heartbreak”. There are quite a few lines like these. With all the sound, it’s sort of lost.
Corrosive Material 