Review: Dream pop loving indie rockers The Pains of Being Pure at Heart announced their reformation last year, having previously called it a day at the end of 2019. While we wait for new music, former label Slumberland Records - the imprint that first pushed the New York combo into the international spotlight - has offered up this slender retrospective focusing on the band's formative years at the tail end of the noughties. Atmospheric, with a uniformly 'big' (if lo-fi) sound (they loved reverb back then), the collected cuts sound like they were recorded at the turn of the nineties rather than at the end of the noughties. Highlights are plentiful though, with our picks including jangly anthem 'Side Ponytail', the brilliantly titled 'Kurt Cobain's Cargidan' and the effortlessly upbeat and life-affirming swell of 'Higher Than The Stars'.
… Read more