For anyone following at home, the Pains of Being Pure at Heart developed a live rep that was far fiercer than the output on the New York group's somewhat placid self-titled debut. Now, with the upcoming March 29 release of Belong and some more clued-in people working the soundboards across the country, we can meet comfortably in the middle.

The sludgy, rib-shaking interruption ten seconds into the title track does plenty to indicate that enlisting Flood (the dude who did Siamese Dream Mellon Collie) to produce was a calculated move. "Girl of 1,000 Dreams" is a messy, fierce homage to those Jesus and Mary Chain buggers.

Not to say that there aren't still the precious tendencies of TPOBPAH

(great acronym) lyrics of the past -- "Heart in Your Heartbreak" being

notable in this department -- but there is no question that this is a fine, fine rock record.

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Stream it at ThePainsOfBeingPureAtHeart.com.

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