The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart - Jeremy (Magnetic Fields cover)

The Pains of Being Pure At Heart
New Single "Jeremy / My Life Is Wrong”
Download out October 9, 2012
Limited edition 7" vinyl on October 23, 2012

The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are pleased to announce a new 7" single on Slumberland featuring covers of two of their favorite bands ever, The Magnetic Fields and East River Pipe. The single marks the first new recordings from the band since their 2011 album, "Belong," and will be available on October 9th. The single was recorded in June at Rare Book Room, and features "Jeremy" by The Magnetic Fields as the A-side with "My Life is Wrong" by East River Pipe on the flip.

Peggy Wang of Pains explains her personal connection to The Magnetic Fields: "The Magnetic Fields were a band without context. …I can look back at the time and see how the Magnetic Fields were a band that could exist outside of a context and still make me fall in love with them. I didn’t need to know if they were anyone else’s favorite band, I didn’t need to know what they looked like or where they were from or any frivolous details a hypothetical Tigerbeat interview might have divulged to me. The Magnetic Fields might have been the last band I ever unconditionally loved without ever stopping to try to understand why - just the kind of love story I hoped to one day live through."

On the topic of East River Pipe's "My Life is Wrong," The Pains' Kip Berman says: "Sure, it had all the prerequisites of this particular strain of indiepop -- jangly guitars, the tinny kick and snare of a drum machine, and and an intimate vocal delivery intended for living rooms and campus rec centers, not big rock clubs or arenas. But where many of F.M. Cornog’s peers sang gently about gentle things -- unrequited love or social discomfort -- his understated voice evoked a sense of grand ambition thwarted ('God knows I tried to live, this is all there is'). I heard a man striving for something far greater than he knew he could ever achieve, emerging from defeat with this undeniable pop gem as recompense for his struggle."

The Pains have always been quick to share their enthusiasm for all the great bands who inspire them to make music, and with this great, rocking single we see them very concretely pay tribute to two of the finest song-writers in contemporary indie music.