Growing Pains: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart

Members: Kip Berman, Peggy Wang, Kurt Feldman, Alex Naidus
Album: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
For Fans Of: The Pastels, Velocity Girl, My Bloody Valentine

On a Monday morning in early spring, Kip Berman is in New York's East Village, waiting for brunch and discussing his voice. "I really don't like the sound of my voice talking," he says. "You probably noticed that. You probably don't like it that much either." So much for rock 'n' roll swagger.

Berman and his group, the aptly named The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, are the least macho buzz band in quite some time. They make dreamy twee-pop with a spiky guitar edge. They like Diet Snapple. They played their first concert at a birthday party. They have a song called "Young Adult Friction" and another called "A Teenager In Love." Is it hard to be so earnest, so emotionally available? I think it would be harder," Berman says, "to be always afraid that we were going to be exposed as phony."

The bandmates initially bonded over a love of obscure artists like Black Tambourine, Dear Nora and The Exploding Hearts—and now they're in a band that other record geeks can obsess over. They'll follow this summer's European tour with a gig at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago. And after starting with an EP and some seven-inch vinyl, the Pains now have a tuneful self-titled album in stores, which Berman thinks makes it easier to appreciate the band. "I'm not saying we're good now—at all," he says. "We still probably suck." We beg to differ.

Listen to The Pains of Being Pure at Heart's "Young Adult Friction" from The Pains of Being Pure at Heart: