Listen: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - "Poison Touch" [Premiere]

18 September 2014, 10:45 | Written by Rebecca Jayne Higgins

(Tracks)

(The Pains of Being Pure at Heart)

Named after a friend's unpublished children's novel, and with an early appreciation for writing songs about falling in lust in libraries, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart almost immediately placed themselves as a sturdy bookmark between the somewhat misunderstood genres of twee and pop on their 2009 debut. They've remained loyal to those roots ever since.

The band's newest offering, the charismatically unflappable "Poison Touch", retains an upbeat sparkle of nostalgia that initially made Pains so accesible. Despite possessing the glossier, more polished sound their third LP Days Of Abandon presented, "Poison Touch" is charming in its ostensible appreciation of pure pop.

With a ridiculously catchy instumentation set-up (which will definitely have you mistake it momentarily for a modern re-jig of everyone's favourite 80s guilty pleasure, George Michael's "Faith" - but in the best possible way), "Poison Touch" could easily provide the soundtrack to the moment a seemingly life-changing, moving-on-up montage happens in a John Hughes film.

Kip from the band says: "I wrote 'Poison Touch' for Taylor Swift, but I think her number was in my old phone. So I gave it to A Sunny Day in Glasgow's Jen Goma instead.” (Ms Goma is on backing vocals).

Regardless of the potential trap that channeling even an only slightly retro sound might present, The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart manage to avoid losing their edge of twee coolness. "Posion Touch" flourishes with a pride in creating outwardly, unashamedly pure pop music reminiscent of the mid-2000's indie dancefloors of which many of us were stalwarts. Somehow, it retains the gritty, rough-around-the-edges charm that made the band so endearing in the first place.