After three critically-acclaimed records New York band PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART announces its fourth album, The Echo of Pleasure, due 1st September on the band’s own Painbow label.
Having long set the benchmark for big-hearted, idealistic pop songs The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart push beyond their many inspirations and embrace their role as indie- pop heroes with this release. Showcasing the deft songwriting of frontman Kip Berman, The Pains’ fourth album is their most confident and accomplished.
Navigating variability and safety without unraveling, ‘The Echo of Pleasure’ is structured with warmth and fragility.
On recording this album with Days of Abandon producer Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine, The Killers) as the birth of his first child loomed near, Berman says,
“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 absolute uncertainty hanging over our heads, but it was also a kind of escape from worry for that time,” he explains.
It’s not a bad thing to be worried when you’re expecting this huge transition of life. If you didn’t feel scared, you’re probably not feeling the right emotion. I tried to make the best record I could, knowing it might be the last time.”
The shared single ‘Anymore’, which is the second track on the album, is about extreme love. It is a sweetly dark, double-edged resolution of “I couldn’t take anymore / I wanted to die with you.” says Berman.
The record features guest vocals from previous Pains collaborators such as 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 band has also announced extensive European and North American tour dates. The band will tour the UK in late May, returning to New York for Northside Festival in June.
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