Don't check me out
There were good reasons to be skeptical about The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: that twee band name and the crush of writers and blogs praising them, chief among them. Yet the effervescent pop of "Young Adult Friction" would win anybody over, and did so for me the first time I heard it on a mix CD. Taking all the best elements of garage pop and girl group melodies, "Young Adult Friction" was at once familiar and utterly awakening. Clearer than the fuzz of the Vivian Girls, less distorted than No Age, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart creates joy out of simple three-chord melodies, effortless and natural – it's a track that seemed custom-made for flirtatious dancing. "Young Adult Friction" is the sum of great pop songs but it never comes off as calculated or studied, rather the jangle of the guitars, the perfect splash of the high-hat and the fantastic vocals (particularly by keyboardist Peggy Wang-East) culminate to a breathtaking anthem. Consider me a skeptic no more.
Written for Treble Zine's Top 50 Songs of 2009.
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