Altsounds - Pains of Being Pure at Heart - Young Adult Friction [Single]

I think enough has been written about Pains of Being Pure at Heart on this site alone, all of it positive, so I’ll keep this one short. If you still haven’t heard this band (shame on you), then ‘Young Adult Friction’ is as good a place to start as any. ‘Young Adult Friction’ is one of many moments of pure pop perfection on Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s self titled debut album. Featuring one of the cleverest titles this year (it’s about teenage library-based lust), four chords, a bouncing bass line and lyrics that live up to the promise of the title (“between the stacks in the library, not like anyone stopped to see, we came they went, our bodies spent, among the dust and the microfiche”), it’s about as good as the more twee side of pop ever gets.

B-side 'Ramona' is a much more downbeat affair, drawing much from Jesus & the Mary Chain. If nothing else it goes to show that even when Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound miserable, everyone else still gets to smile. You see that’s exactly what Pains of Being Pure at Heart make you do as much as anything else; they make you smile. Have you ever walked past someone in the street (well, more likely the pavement) who is wearing headphones and grinning broadly to themselves and wondered what the hell they are listening to? The chances are that from now on, it may well be Pains of Being Pure at Heart.