It is with their second album, Belong, that New York’s The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are bearing the pains of being a lengthily-titled band, for their title misguides us with high expectations of an intricately-crafted masterpiece. In 2009, their eponymous debut album showed promise, paying the right kind of tribute to late 70s alternative rock, the tunes having a catchy and simple effortlessness. Now two years later and Belong is hardly a giant step away from the five-pieced group’s debut, yet their style has lost something – that less-is-more attitude that echoes through their previous LP.

Belong may appear bland on first listen. And maybe second. Third. Fourth too, depending on how much you want to like it. Kip Berman sings his sweet, nasal lyrics making saccharine melodies like in ‘Even in Dreams’ and ‘Anne with an E’, the latter being a reference to Anne of Green Gables, that early 20th century novel you may have studied in class. The title track is a good one. It stands out from other tracks in that it boasts an MGMT-like vibe and the lyrics possess the confidence that a number of the songs seem to lack.

But the repetitive tunes and hooks get tired and, unfortunately, most tracks border on sheer dullness. In ‘Heart in your Heartbreak’, released prior to the single ‘Belong’, the chorus rings “She was the heart in your heartbreak, she was the miss in your mistake” – a cheery, easy sound yet it’s nothing we haven’t heard before.

The album’s artwork is alluring in its ambiguity and to an extent, Belong does encapsulate that ambiguous but vivid emotion of the self-conscious youth of today.  But the Pains’ humility does not place them a cut above the rest. On the contrary, if we consider the album with a focus on the ‘experimental’ of indie music, the band’s local contemporaries are difficult to shun when comparing sounds.  Fellow New Yorkers such as Yeasayer (namely with their acclaimed LP Odd Blood), We are Scientists and Animal Collective are at the forefront of NYC’s pop/indie scene for their brazen innovativeness. Relatively, Belong is ameek follow-up to their first record, sadly lacking in creativity.