Reception
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | link |
| The A.V Club | (A-) link |
| The Guardian | link |
| NME | (8/10) link |
| No Ripcord | link |
| Pitchfork Media | (8.4/10) link |
| Robert Christgau | (A-) link |
| Rolling Stone | link |
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart has received generally positive reviews. On the review aggregate site Metacritic, the album currently has a 76 out of 100, indicating "Generally favorable reviews."
NME's Nathaniel Cramp called the album "Pure indie-pop to hold close to your heart." Ian Cohen of Pitchfork Media gave the album a "Best New Music" designation, writing: "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart simply made a slyly confident debut that mixes sparkling melodies with an undercurrent of sad bastard mopery, and you're just being a dick if you think the past has some kind of patent on that. That's just the way good pop music works." Robert Christgau also praised the album, writing "Not only do they have a sound, they have tunes, and the words bring both home. One day it will please them to remember even this." Allmusic's Tim Sindra was a little less positive, but still enjoyed the album, writing "A little more variation from song to song, a little more of their own sound, or another song or two as compelling as the best stuff here and the POBPAH's debut would have been classic. Settling for impressive is fair enough and good enough for fans of loud, fuzzy, and heartfelt indie noise pop."
In a more mixed review Popmatters' Matthew Fiander criticized the second half of the album, writing "The melodies sound a little too simple, the vocals almost anemic, and the songs take on a dreary-afternoon trudge." Fiander also criticized the album for its lack of originality. In another mixed review, The Guardian's Maddy Costa wrote that "Anyone convinced that the C86 bands represent a nadir of tweeness will hate it - while anyone who thinks that Britpop and dance music ruined indie will fall hopelessly in love."
Pitchfork Media ranked the album #19 on the website's list of The Top 50 Albums of 2009. In addition, the same website ranked the song "Young Adult Friction" #30 on their list of The Top 100 Tracks of 2009.
Read more about this topic: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (album)
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