The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - The Echo Of Pleasure

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have long set the benchmark for big-hearted, idealistic pop songs. WithThe Echo of Pleasure, The Pains push beyond their many inspirations and embrace their role as indiepopheroes in their own right. Showcasing the deft songwriting of frontman Kip Berman, The Pains' fourth album is their most confident and accomplished. After three critically-acclaimed records, 2009's The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2011's Belong and 2014's Days of Abandon received praise from The New York Times, Pitchfork, The Guardian and Rolling Stone, they have put together a collection of songs that possess a timeless grandeur, deeper and more satisfying than anything the band has done since their iconic debut. From their earliest days of C86-worship to Alternative Nation-sized anthems to a matured, Simple andSure pop refinement, The Echo of Pleasure is what Berman describes as sounding heavy and hopeful,like love. It's an album that reflects the band's most joyous moments while maintaining Berman'scandid and critical lyricism, free of the self-abasing insecurity of youth. The album is loving. The music isheavier, more expansive, he says. To me, songs about love shouldn't be thought of as light. Love is big- sometimes it's emphatic, overwhelming or simple - other times it's tense, anxious or just exhausting.But at its best, it makes you want to be something better.In their decade long career, Berman has stood at the center of The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, andwith a changing lineup, it's become more apparent. On [the last album] Days of Abandon, I was on myown. There was no one in the room making decisions with me. It felt strange experiencing that isolationwhile trying to make sense of it through writing, Berman admits. That album was about loss, and Ithink it conveyed that feeling well � but I'm glad to move on from that place. On The Echo of Pleasure,he's learned to take full agency of something he's always owned. With this record, I've made peacewith the fact I am Pains. It's always been my band, but I haven't been super comfortable saying that,partly because I've enjoyed working with so many talented friends, and also because the songs I wroteseemed to mean more than anything my actual life could live up to.Berman enlisted Days of Abandon producer Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine, The Killers) to help him record a Pains record like none-other. The logistics of it were so different. When I recorded the record, my wife was six months pregnant. We only had a limited amount of time. There was an absoluteuncertainty hanging over our heads, but it was also a kind of escape from worry for that time, heexplains. What's going to happen when I have a kid? Am I going to be able to go on tour? Is this the lastrecord I'm going to get to make? It's not a bad thing to be worried when you're expecting this hugetransition of life. If you didn't feel scared, you're probably not feeling the right emotion. I tried to makethe best record I could, knowing it might be the last time.The best moments on the album live in the space near fear but find comfort in the solace that followsgiving into love. On the succulent cacophony of first single, Anymore, it's the sweetly dark,double-edged resolution of I couldn't take anymore / I wanted to die with you. On the stunningopener, My Only, it's the sanity preserving, self-admonition in the lyrics keep it together, I won't findanother love like I found you. The Garret is another standout track that hints at something moresinewy and seductive than anything The Pains have done to date. Berman pleads, The words I say can'tsay, the touch is what I mean and concludes, When I leave you, I can't leave you, part of me remains.Throughout the album, there is a consequence of giving yourself to another; for better or worse, it is notreversible.But it's the almost uncomfortably direct When I Dance with You, where Berman reveals the album'stender core by saying, When I dance with you, I feel ok. He adds, It looks really simple on paper, butthat sentiment is the underpinning of what love is. Beneath the tension, doubt, and complexities of twopeople sharing life, there's something inexplicable when that all disappears for a moment, and it's all ok.You know something you can't say, but you don't need to say it.The Echo of Pleasure navigates variability and safety without unraveling. Berman is no stranger tofragility; here, it's structured with warmth, the kind found after life-altering moments. It's reflected inthe album title, too: The Echo of Pleasure could be the near-symmetry of love, he explains. It's thereflection back and forth, modulating over time, of two people who are together. It's not a mirror - but aperpetual answering and asking. When one person is absent, that echo ceases or, as the title tracklaments, 'fades into these silent days.' In that sense, remembering is a kind of echo, each instanceslightly less vivid than the one before.The record is augmented by guest vocals featuring previous Pains collaborators: Jen Goma on So True(A Sunny Day in Glasgow), bass guitar by Jacob Danish Sloan (Dream Diary), and horns by Kelly Pratt(Beirut, David Byrne, St. Vincent). The Pains of Being Pure at Heart live band consists of long-timeguitarist Christoph Hochheim (Ablebody, ex-Depreciation Guild), bassist Jacob Danish Sloan, drummerChris Schackerman (ex-Mercury Girls, ex-Literature) and vocalist/keyboardist Jess Rojas. The band willtour the UK in late May, returning to New York for Northside Festival in June with more selective datesset to be announced shortly. The Echo of Pleasure arrives later this summer.