The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Belong

Will these NY kids cure my sore throat this morning? Will they soothe me with their skyscraping take on twee shoegaze? Perhaps, maybe, they may just. I've not really liked what i've heard of the new material so far but keep hearing squeaks & rattles of heavenly melodic wonder seeping through the floorboards at work & instinctively realise it's this pesky lot. The production has been amped up to fill aircraft hangers & stadiums nowadays. I think that's what happens when you get Flood in to work on your music. He does seem to 'flood' the tunes with a very dynamic & full sound. Some may say bland? This takes some of the endearing edge away - that warm, fuzzy lo-fi thing which makes indie bands extra cuddly & adorable when they're little. The songs on here are largely OK and sometimes really catchy - much like on their their debut. I'm unsure why there's seemingly a POBPAH backlash because they're only guilty of doing what most indie bands have done after an album or two since time began! The songs on their eponymous debut were more of an obvious pastiche anyway (albeit an excellent one); so I think this is a more mature record; the songs aren't buzzsaw pop treasures, they've s-l-o-w-e-d down too but this album is the one that will undoubtedly spread their message to a much wider audience. There are a couple of moments where I feel like i'm listening to White Lies or summat - a bit too sterile & polished - but all they're probably trying to do there is rip off New Order like every other fucker has done for years. In a nutshell, this will sound good blaring from your car on a hot sunny day but isn't gonna set the world alight. Not terrible by any means but a bit of a mixed bag. Still, you can't beat a cute melody & this record has plenty.