Pop. Lots of it. And guitars. Lots of them too. With The Echo Of Pleasure, the New Yorkers of Pains Of Being Pure At Heart aren't changing the winning formula of The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart (2009), of Belong (2011) and Days Of Abandon (2014). Singer and guitarist Kip Berman is applying himself to polishing his writing, all the better to master the idiom of noise pop. This is noisy, shoegaze pop that Jesus & Mary Chain, My Bloody Valentine and the Pale Saints and The Field Mice served up so expertly in the 1990s. Under the cobbles, the beach. And behind a wall of distortion, melody. It's all there! In this perfect marriage of a wonderful melody and a killer chorus. We could complain that this fourth album, perhaps, cleaves a little too closely to its roots. But nonetheless, Berman has created some strong hits, like When I Dance With You, a luminous single with some daring synth pop sallies, that save the day. © MD/Qobuz