Diandra Reviews It All

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart (TPOBPAH) treat pop like it a refinery of candy. Somewhere, way more magical, there is a factory that sophisticatedly creates sweet sounds, colorful rhythms, and lyrics that bend and harden in the same your heart can, as well. This image may sound like a Candy Crush fantasy, but it is also imaginative of TPOBPAH’s The Echo of Pleasure.

Refined Pop is a good way to present the sounds of The Echo of Pleasure. With syrups of disco and electronica are blended into tracks like, “When I Dance With You”, “The Echo of Pleasure”, and “So True”, in the same way they would be a milk-shake. Their synths milk and splash through with a rich, gulping ease; you simply want more synths to make you dance. Meanwhile songs such as “The Garrett” or “The Cure For Death” have an indie rock arrangement that allows Kip Berman’s lyrics to forward their idealistic beauty. Fear, death, fragility, and life-changing decisions circle every track to land on Berman’s ultimate, personal quest: to feel love. He may be scared that nothing will go right, and that, maybe, it it is fault, as seen in the words of “Anymore”, “Falling Apart So Slow”, and “Stay”. Berman has a ways of making both his chords and verses sound like sidewalks transforming into quick-sand. One minute you are walking on the ground, and, in the next, you are being enveloped by it. It is this image that surfs through The Pains of Being Pure At Heart’s candied tracks. Starry synths and galaxies of overall instrumentals may form to give you a feel of bliss, but Berman, as a lyricist, should not be ignored in his attempt to recall and elevate the everyday attempts humans make to feel.

I love when serious thoughts are draped in electric sound. It makes the casual difficulties of everyday living feel more bearable, and between Berman and Jen Goma’s own glazed vocals, which honey and harmonize throughout the album, wanting to embrace your world feels like a happier ordeal. It may sound cheesy to want to dance through your day or feel love in every corner, even if danger or fear lie around, but that is the point of life. Whether or not our days on earth are journey of meaning, does not affect whether they can be traveled in joy. The Pains of Being Pure At Heart have seeming made this mindful notion their music ideology, which can be heard in The Echo of Pleasure On September 1 By Clicking Here.