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The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in Austin, TX in 2014

Nov 04, 2019 The Pains of Being Pure at Heart By Christopher Roberts Photography by Wendy Lynch Redfern

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart have broken up. Frontman Kip Berman announced the news in an Instagram post and Under the Radar has confirmed the news with the band’s publicist. Berman plans to focus on his new project The Natvral, which put its debut EP last year.

“Pains was a distinct moment in my life,” Berman wrote. “I started the group when I first moved to New York and completed our last record, The Echo of Pleasure, shortly before my daughter was born and I moved to Princeton, NJ. From that time forward, I never really felt the same - and the music I was creating didn’t feel the same either.
But this is good, both for my heart and my music.”

Read the full statement below. Also below is a cover of Dear Nora’s “You Looked Like a Portrait” that The Natvral shared last Friday and a selection of Pains of Being Pure at Heart music and videos.

The Pains of Being Pure at Heart’s last regular album, The Echo of Pleasure, came out in September 2017 via the band’s own label, Painbow. Although in 2018 the band covered Tom Petty‘s debut solo album, 1989’s Full Moon Fever, in its entirety for Turntable Kitchen’s Sounds Delicious vinyl subscription series, in which artists cover full albums by other artists. The band released four albums: 2009’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, 2011’s Belong, 2014’s Days of Abandon, and 2017’s The Echo of Pleasure.

Read our 2014 article on The Pains of Being Pure at Heart and Days of Abandon, and our bonus 2014 Q&A with Berman.

View this post on Instagram

Kip here. My life has changed radically from the time I started Pains with Peggy, Alex and (soon after) Kurt in 2007, and I’ve decided to focus on a new project @the_natvral. Pains was a distinct moment in my life. I started the group when I first moved to New York and completed our last record, “The Echo of Pleasure,” shortly before my daughter was born and I moved to Princeton, NJ. From that time forward, I never really felt the same - and the music I was creating didn’t feel the same either. But this is good, both for my heart and my music. I know some of you equate “PAINS” with a particular lineup of people, but I’ve always felt that whoever I collaborated with has been “the real band,” because what animated the music was so consistent. But now, that strange something that inspired what we were able to create is absent. What has taken its place feels very different, and I have to express it in a different way. I’ve spent this past year making a new record, and hope to share it sometime next year. In the meantime, you can hear a cover I did of one of my heroes, Dear Nora, in the bio. If you are curious as to what other PAINS people are now up to: Kip: @the_natvral Alex: @massagetheband Peggy: @store_front_nyc Kurt: @kurt_feldman The Ice Choir Tenser Timpani Christoph: @ablebody + live w/ @jerrypaper_reality Jacob: @the_natvral @jeanines Dream Diary (?!) Drew: @wearebeverly @publicpractice Anton: @beachfossilsnyc Jen: Showtime Goma @jengoma Jess Weiss: @fearofmen Elspeth: @shopnoctiluca Jess Krichelle Rojas: @JessKrichelle Chris: @archofloveband Brian: @peeldreammagazine @lunaretteny @the_natvral Photo: Pavla Kopecna

A post shared by THE PAINS OF BEING PURE AT ???? (@thepainsofbeingpureatheart) on Nov 4, 2019 at 7:51am PST

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