Days of Abandon
by The Pains of Being Pure at Heart
Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 14 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
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  1. AllMusic
    May 12, 2014
    60
    Without the energy and the sonic thrills, they are just another pop band making music that's little more than a momentarily pleasant diversion.
  2. Alternative Press
    May 15, 2014
    50
    For now, it just comes off like an unnecessary retreat.
  3. Blurt Magazine
    Jun 20, 2014
    40
    It’s a little too smoothed out and indistinct now--most of the songs are well crafted but a little TOO well crafted.
  5. Filter
    May 9, 2014
    58
    Despite some inspired guest contributions from A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s Jen Goma and Beirut’s Kelly Pratt, the raw guitar anthems from Belong are too often replaced by poppy fizz, toothless jangle and twee melancholia on Abandon.
  6. Mojo
    Jul 24, 2014
    60
    What makes everything tick is Berman's plausibly gooey hooks, matched by guitars sparkling like diamante--just the ticket for shiny, happy people. [Jul 2014, p.95]
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  7. PopMatters
    May 14, 2014
    60
    Ultimately, Days of Abandon is an album that feels like the Pains of Being Pure at Heart are trying to settle into a new sense of what it is as a band, whether that’s because Kip Berman is still continuing to find his voice as a songwriter or because his music sometimes sounds more like its influences than what it once was not so long ago.
  8. The A.V. Club
    May 13, 2014
    50
    Days Of Abandon’s lushly clean tones provide an innocuous foundation upon which layers of warm harmonies are laid. In the end, the record’s flaws aren’t wholly a product of the mellower genre as much as a generally uninspired execution.
  9. The Guardian
    May 29, 2014
    60
    It's sweet, but after a few listens, a little too limp.
  10. The Quietus
    May 29, 2014
    50
    It is not boring. It is not that good. It is simply meh. The epitomeh of meh.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.8

Generally favorable reviews- based on 21 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 21
  3. Negative: 2 out of 21
  1. DPads
    May 15, 2014
    8
    It may seem like Kip Berman is disenchanted on this album... and I think that's because he really is. To me, the whole record comes off as aIt may seem like Kip Berman is disenchanted on this album... and I think that's because he really is. To me, the whole record comes off as a sigh. A bright, shimmering, catchy as all get out sigh, but a sigh nonetheless. Instead of conjuring images of carnal relations in a library, transcendent love, and romantic weekends, he just seems... off. Maybe that's why reception to this album has been lukewarm.

    Lukewarm, maybe, but I still can't stop listening to it. I see this work as a reflection at a stand still. Sitting in his chair waiting for the motivation to clean up after a party he threw for someone that didn't end up coming. Laying in a hammock at the beginning of September after realizing that all of the romantic hopes and dreams and promises of a new summer culminated into nothing but sadness and sunburns. The yearning from his earlier work is there, oh boy is it ever, but the promise is gone. He's reaching up but he doesn't know where the next rung is, or if there is another rung at all. It's the most vulnerable sentiment that I think Kip has showed thus far. And for my money, the best songs on this album stack up with the best from the eariler recrods, and the others are perfectly placed. Days of Abandon may not win any new fans, or Kip new friends, but when all of your friends move on from your life, isn't it important to find out who your real friends are?    … Full Review »
  2. MrYuck
    Dec 6, 2016
    3
    I did not like this album at all, and I absolutely loved the other two Pains of Being albums, and earlier EP. Kip breaking out basically anI did not like this album at all, and I absolutely loved the other two Pains of Being albums, and earlier EP. Kip breaking out basically an entire new band confused me. And why did he give the Sunny Day in Glasgow chick lead vocals on two (horrible) songs? Until the Sun explodes is pretty much the only song on this whole album that I really like. It's just too light and fluffy. In a word, Yeech!… Full Review »
  3. Ricko
    Nov 8, 2016
    8
    "Days of Abandon" is unmistakably "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart", drenched in the feel of the 80's/early 90's. This record falls somewhere"Days of Abandon" is unmistakably "The Pains of Being Pure at Heart", drenched in the feel of the 80's/early 90's. This record falls somewhere between their Smithsesque debut and the shoegaze of their 2nd album "Belong", mixing a variety of styles taken from the indie pop palet. The record sounds like you've heard it before, as is form for the band but rather than offer up lifeless facsimiles of Robert Smith and Morrisey's musings, they do offer their own take on things. It's a bit sugary like a bag of pick and mix. No lasting nutritional value but very enjoyable and addictive while your gobbling it up.… Full Review »
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