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RELEASED
Jan 26, 2009, Slumberland (US)
Feb 2009, Fortuna Pop! (Europe)
2009, Fastcut (Japan)
2009, Lost & Lonesome (Australia)
2009, High Note (Taiwan)
2012, Yoshimoto (Japan re-release)
SONGS
Contender
Come Saturday
Young Adult Friction
This Love is Fucking Right!
The Tenure Itch
Stay Alive
Everything With You
A Teenager In Love
Hey Paul
Gentle Sons
BONUS TRACKS
Side Ponytail (Europe Limited Ed., Second Japan Ed.)
Ramona (Europe Limited Ed., Taiwan, Second Japan Ed.)
Ramona (Europe Limited Ed., Taiwan, Second Japan Ed.)
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (Europe Limited Ed., Taiwan, Second Japan Ed.)
Gothenburg Handshake (First Japan Ed.)
I Wanna Go All The Way (First Japan Ed.)
I Wanna Go All The Way (First Japan Ed.)
Higher Than The Stars (Second Japan Ed.)
103 (Second Japan Ed.)
Falling Over (Second Japan Ed.)
Twins (Second Japan Ed.)
Say No To Love (Second Japan Ed.)
Lost Saint (Second Japan Ed.)
103 (Second Japan Ed.)
Falling Over (Second Japan Ed.)
Twins (Second Japan Ed.)
Say No To Love (Second Japan Ed.)
Lost Saint (Second Japan Ed.)
PERSONNEL
Kip Berman - Guitar, vocals
Alex Nadius - Bass
Peggy Wang - Keyboards, vocals
Kurt Feldman, Drums
Jon Chaikin - Mastering
Archie Moore - Mixing
Kendra Elise - Front cover photography
Pavla Kopecna - Back cover photography
Recorded at Honeyland Studios, mixed at Clean Cuts, mastered at Nonstop Sound
NOTES
In some ways, this is a humble debut album - short, heavy with reverb, containing several songs that had been released in other forms leading up to it. In others, it's one of the key documents of Brooklyn indie rock as the 2000s became the 2010s. This album, released on legendary indiepop label Slumberland records, was what brought Pains to the attention of general listeners and industry tastemakers with positive reviews appearing in Pitchfork (8.4, Best New Music) and the other online publications that focused on guitar music in the blog era.
To this day, Kip responds to such praise by suggesting that listeners who like the album track down the bands that inspired its creation - in 2019, he named Velocity Girl, The Pastels, Rocketship, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Black Tambourine, Heavenly, The Vaselines, The Exploding Hearts and My Favorite.
The album was assembled from songs that had become rather old by the time the disc was released in early 2009. Due to the process of actively writing and stockpiling new material, Kip had already made progress on many of the songs that would make up 2011's follow-up Belong.
Interestingly, no one is credited as producer in the album's credits. Things would change soon, with Belong bringing on superproducer Flood and Days Of Abandon beginning a long-running alliance with Andy Savours. While the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP was recorded with no live drums, Kurt Feldman had joined the band by the time of the LP sessions and plays drums on all tracks. Though Christoph Hocheim served as a live guitarist during 2009, he is not credited on the album and seemingly didn't participate in the sessions.
As for the songs that make up the album, Hey Paul and This Love Is Fucking Right! had appeared on the band's debut EP, while Come Saturday had featured on a split single in an early version (appended as a bonus track to the deluxe Europe edition of the album). Three vinyl singles were taken from the LP: Everything With You, Young Adult Friction and Come Saturday. All three became long-standing live staples, as did non-album B-side and would-be title track The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.
The band toured the album through early 2009, coming back in the fall to support the follow-up Higher Than The Stars EP. In addition to the three singles, This Love Is Fucking Right! and A Teenager In Love remained live staples in the years to come, through at least 2018.
QUOTES
"Listening to the album in 2019, when things are deeply fucked in a different way, it feels borderline magical to spend 35 minutes in a teenage world full of power pop bangers and dusty old books, a place where hearts break and dreams fade but there’s always another weekend on the horizon." - Patrick D. McDermott for Stereogum
NOTES
In some ways, this is a humble debut album - short, heavy with reverb, containing several songs that had been released in other forms leading up to it. In others, it's one of the key documents of Brooklyn indie rock as the 2000s became the 2010s. This album, released on legendary indiepop label Slumberland records, was what brought Pains to the attention of general listeners and industry tastemakers with positive reviews appearing in Pitchfork (8.4, Best New Music) and the other online publications that focused on guitar music in the blog era.
To this day, Kip responds to such praise by suggesting that listeners who like the album track down the bands that inspired its creation - in 2019, he named Velocity Girl, The Pastels, Rocketship, The Manhattan Love Suicides, Black Tambourine, Heavenly, The Vaselines, The Exploding Hearts and My Favorite.
The album was assembled from songs that had become rather old by the time the disc was released in early 2009. Due to the process of actively writing and stockpiling new material, Kip had already made progress on many of the songs that would make up 2011's follow-up Belong.
Interestingly, no one is credited as producer in the album's credits. Things would change soon, with Belong bringing on superproducer Flood and Days Of Abandon beginning a long-running alliance with Andy Savours. While the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart EP was recorded with no live drums, Kurt Feldman had joined the band by the time of the LP sessions and plays drums on all tracks. Though Christoph Hocheim served as a live guitarist during 2009, he is not credited on the album and seemingly didn't participate in the sessions.
As for the songs that make up the album, Hey Paul and This Love Is Fucking Right! had appeared on the band's debut EP, while Come Saturday had featured on a split single in an early version (appended as a bonus track to the deluxe Europe edition of the album). Three vinyl singles were taken from the LP: Everything With You, Young Adult Friction and Come Saturday. All three became long-standing live staples, as did non-album B-side and would-be title track The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart.
The band toured the album through early 2009, coming back in the fall to support the follow-up Higher Than The Stars EP. In addition to the three singles, This Love Is Fucking Right! and A Teenager In Love remained live staples in the years to come, through at least 2018.
QUOTES
"Listening to the album in 2019, when things are deeply fucked in a different way, it feels borderline magical to spend 35 minutes in a teenage world full of power pop bangers and dusty old books, a place where hearts break and dreams fade but there’s always another weekend on the horizon." - Patrick D. McDermott for Stereogum
