The Virginia Informer

Last Updated:4/22/09 Section: Music Reviews

I had to wait a while to review this one. Ever since I first heard The
La's "There She Goes" -surely the most euphoric pop song ever written
about heroin addiction, and more recently covered by Christian band Sixpence None the
Richer- I've had an unwavering bias in favor of any song with jangly
guitars and an even halfway decent chorus. I distinctly remember
sitting on the school bus in sixth grade and being completely
captivated when that song came on the radio. Of course, at the time my
relationship with popular music mostly involved "Pretty Fly for a
White Guy" and the first NOW! compilation, so it's easy to see why it
made such an impression on me.

Aside from a terribly lengthy name, however, the hip new band The
Pains of Being Pure at Heart (henceforth, TPOBPAH) probably has less
in common with Sixpence None the Richer than I would have you believe.
On their self-titled album debut, the guitar's folksy clamor is
reminiscent of the guitar in The Byrds' cover of "Mr. Tambourine Man."
But to classify TPOBPAH as just your garden variety jangly guitar-pop
would be, I think, doing them a disservice.

For one thing, there are the lyrics, which detail all kinds of sexual
indiscretions. There's sex with siblings, sex with teachers, sex in
public--well, to be fair, that last one does occur "between the stacks
in the library." I mean, who hasn't done that? This is William and Mary,
after all. Luckily for you repressed types out there, the vocals are
usually blended in with the general instrumental, mainly guitar, fuzz.

Which brings me to my next point, the guitars. Front man Kip Berman
appears to have internalized the best guitar sounds of 80s indie rock
and condensed them into one unified aesthetic. Lots of the guitar
riffs rip off William Reid ("Gentle Sons") or Johnny Marr ("Young
Adult Friction"), but not many do it on the same album--let alone the
same song ("Everything with You").

I could go on, but seriously, screw influence. TPOBPAH's best song,
"Stay Alive," transcends time and space. The fact that you feel like
you might have heard it before doesn't make it a derivative song so
much as an instantly memorable one, with a great hook and the most
inevitable of melodies - the very same qualities that made me smitten
with "There She Goes" not so long ago.

4 feathers

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