The Pains of Being Pure at Heart‘s upcoming third record, Days of Abandon, is your mama’s music. Or, rather, lead singer Kip Berman’s mama’s music.
“I think my mom will like this one more, and that’s how I usually evaluate songwriting,” Berman told MTV News. “If it’s something your mom likes, it probably isn’t very cool, but there are things in life that are better than cool.”
The band put out a teaser for the record, due out April 22, this week that pretty much sums up that sentiment. The video includes a sample of the single “Art Smock,” which is about a friend splintering off and joining a more polished crowd.
“You learned to mingle with a well-bred crowd/ straightened your hair and forgot all about/ torn jeans and sweaters from the lost and found,” Berman croons in his signature near-British singing voice.
“It’s a sad love song, but not romantic love,” Berman said.
Things have changed a bit for the band in the years since releasing their sophomore effort, Belong. Namely, the lineup has shifted; it previously included Alex Naidus on bass, Peggy Wang on keyboard and vocals and Kurt Feldman on drums.
“The band has always just been a combination of me writing songs and getting my friends to play them,” Berman said.
According to the singer, myriad people appear on the record: Alex Naidus and Kurt Feldman (The Ice Choir), Jen Goma (A Sunny Day in Glasgow, People Get Ready) and Kelly Pratt (Beirut, David Byrne & St. Vincent, Bright Moments).
The live lineup includes Christoph Hochheim, who previously played with the Pains, his brother Anton Hochheim (Ablebody, Depreciation Guild) and Jacob Sloan (Dream Diary, The Hairs).
Berman added that Drew Citron (Beverly, Frankie Rose), Jessica Weiss (Fear of Men) and Goma will be joining the band along the along the way on their newly announced North American tour.
“Music is my life, but I respect it’s not everyone’s life,” Berman said. “Having some different people get involved really opened up the sound and possibilities of the new record to places I don’t think we could have gone doing things the same old way. I feel each thing we’ve done from our first EP to Abandon has gradually built on and developed the thing we did before — and I’m glad that process continues. If you can’t do that, you should probably not put out a new record.”
I’m sure Mama’s proud.
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