The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (Interview)

As their name implies, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart make music that gets to the center of a particular frame of mind or sensibility (in the band's case, that sensibility just happens to be the agony of being young and in love). Critically-acclaimed from a host of publications and bloggers alike, their self-titled debut from February 2009 gained the foursome comparisons to an Americanized Smiths, The Jesus and Mary Chain, and My Bloody Valentine as they solidified their status as one of the premier indie pop bands of the day. But now the Brooklyn, NY-based band's sensibilities are preparing for the test that is the sophomore LP, a time that redefines pain for many an act.

Just before the world gets to be the jury and executioner, frontman Kip Berman exchanged emails with No Ripcord to talk about the sound of the album, working with legendary producers Alan Moulder and Flood, and their lively stage show.  

What was the experience of working with Alan Moulder and Flood like?  Were there any awe-struck fanboy/girl vibes involved?

It was fantastic to have someone like Flood tell you that he was super into our songs when he heard the demos - it's hard to argue with him or be self effacing - he's Flood. He made Violator. We're usually like, "we suck." So having someone like him and Alan say, "Actually no, you don't," was pretty life-affirming.

As the guys responsible for shaping the sound of the Smashing Pumpkins in the '90s, was it their influence that gave the album's reported feel that massive sound? Or was that something you walked in with before the whole process began?

We really care mostly about songs. To us, good songs are good songs, no matter what they sound like. The Vaselines had good songs, so did Beat Happening and so did Black Tambourine. But so did Teenage Fanclub, Smashing Pumpkins and Ride, which were recorded more traditionally.

We really wanted this record to feel more visceral, more immediate and the feelings it communicated more intuitive. We wanted that instantaneous feeling of "yes" when you heard it, and those guys were responsible for creating so many of our favorite records that had that feeling - they definitely "got" what we wanted to do. Just like Archie Moore (Black Tambourine, Velocity Girl) "got" what we wanted to sound like when he mixed our first record.

Is there a particular set of artists or albums you were all listening to during recording?

I listened to a lot of Felt. It had nothing to do with the record, but I just love Felt and it was sort of a good antidote to all those days of blasting big guitars through big amps... I mean, I love that too, but you can't do that all day and then go home and listen to Nirvana or Hum.

Was the recording process easier or more difficult this time around?  Was there that fear of the sophomore slump at all?

The recording process was really exciting - it was playful and not too "time to make serious important rock, guys." I guess it's easy to fixate on who produced it, but really Flood is just a guy that is good at bringing out the best in the bands he works with - the records he works on tend to be the ones you most identify with the band. He doesn't do that by being a jerk, but sort of the opposite. He's inspiring, and makes you want to work harder to be the best you can be.

As for sophomore slump - I don't know what the standard for that is. Is it commercial? Critical? Or just personal? The first category we can't control, nor can we really dictate what critics will say about us. But personally, we feel this record and these songs are the opposite of a slump - we're just excited to go play them for people.

Sonically, the guitars seem to be getting bigger on what we've all heard, but how does the lyrical scope change, if at all? The first record had some definite tongue-in-cheek humor; is that getting ramped up or downplayed?

I feel the lyrics on the first album were reflective and more narrative, remembering events of the past and making sense of them in the present. It's a fair criticism to call it nostalgia, in that the scope of most of the songs were very much based on personal memory.

For this record, the lyrics are very immediate, like looking so closely at something that you can't tell what the thing actually is, but you can describe it - you have to confront it because it's so close and raw. There are far more intuitive feelings, in-the-moment kinds of reactions - it's not a "moral of the story" kind of thing. It isn't a sympathetic, "woe is my unrequited heart" kind of indie pop. We've always felt that the traditional "perfect pop perfection" kind of lyrics are just not us - it must be great if your life is chaste longing for hand holding bicycle rides and cupcake filled picnics - but that's just not reality. Or not our reality, at least.

What are your thoughts about being an indie band and dropping a new LP in a world where Arcade Fire won album of the year? Is there a feeling of pressure to compete? Is it freeing now that anything seems possible? Does it not even matter?

Nirvana showed that you can be awesome and popular, and that was 20 years ago. Same with Smashing Pumpkins and Weezer. But the idea of caring about how many records we sell as a sign of self worth is pretty far removed from why we play music and the things that matter to us.

Most of our favorite bands growing up were so small, and yet their music was so intensely important to us - like they were the biggest band in the world, even if it was just to me and my friends. It would have been great if more people loved The Pastels, My Favorite and Aislers Set, but to me they're examples of successful pop bands, because the music was so good and they were so meaningful to me.

You've got a fairly large U.S. tour coming up.  Any plans to do something different or new with your stage show? In addition, at shows you've already played, how are fans reacting to the new material?

We just stand there and play our songs. It's terribly boring, really - unless, of course, you like the songs.

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart release their new album, Belong, later this month.