The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are touring Spain from late June into early July, stopping in Tarragona, València, Málaga, Seville, Granada, Madrid, Zaragoza, Murcia and Terrassa. Spain has long been one of their favourite places to play, with regular visits since their Primavera Sound debut in 2009.
They return with Perfect Right Now: A Slumberland Collection 2008–2010 (Slumberland Records), a compilation drawn from their earliest years. The premise is simple: revisit the sound that made them one of the most recognisable guitar-pop bands of the late 2000s.
The group announced their "formal" separation in 2019, but in 2025 they reunited for a tour for the anniversary of their debut, with a lineup that recovered much of its original identity: those luminous guitars, the fuzz with a soft heart, the fragile melodies and a noise that was more emotional than aggressive. Their self-titled debut from 2009 already condensed a sensibility that looked askance at C86, at Sarah Records, at the kindest shoegaze, at The Jesus and Mary Chain and at My Bloody Valentine.
Much of that first album remains in the live set: Contender, Come Saturday, Young Adult Friction, This Love Is Fucking Right!, A Teenager in Love, Everything With You and Heart in Your Heartbreak. The songs work beyond nostalgia because their melodies land immediately, carrying exactly the right charge and a fragile euphoria that has not worn thin.
On stage the songs get dirty and louder: the guitars hit harder and the choruses get bigger than in the studio. The band acts without star poses, with a touch of sweet shyness that contrasts completely with the euphoric nature of the music. No fuss or great stage display, just short, loud and direct songs, loaded with pop melodies and a feeling of adolescent melancholy.
Fifteen years later, the compilation and this tour pull the same thread: those first singles that put them on the map and that, apparently, have not stopped playing.