Thursday 10.21
BROOKLYN
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
66 N Sixth St. 718-486-5400. $17. 8 p.m.
with The Blow, Screaming Females, Suuns and Young Man
New York’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart sound distinctly European: deeply melancholy, highly melodic, bursting with fuzz and brightness and adolescent romanticism. It could sound like pastiche, if it weren’t so finely balanced and so artfully constructed—there are hints of My Bloody Valentine, New Order, Jesus and Mary Chain, Radio Dept., Belle & Sebastian and (most notably) the Smiths in the Pains’ outstanding music—as well as so honest and endearing. The band’s too-precious name has surely led to some outspoken critics, but the music doesn’t betray much cutesiness—this may be indie rock, it may be Anglophilic, but just the same: This is powerful stuff.
