This Friday, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart will play at Cholmondeley's and launch a three-month, worldwide tour that officially begins on Saturday at the Middle East in Cambridge. The Brandeis event will also include performances by fellow New York bands Cymbals Eat Guitars and The Depreciation Guild in what promises to be an impressive opening to the 2009 to 2010 academic year for the Punk, Rock n' Roll Club.The Pains of Being Pure at Heart released a self-titled debut album in February this year that garnered an enviable critical reception. The entire 35-minute record features simple chord changes, catchy melodies and straightforward song structures but is perhaps chiefly distinguished by an obvious intent to revive the sound of bygone decades of indie pop. TPOBPAH literally wears its influences on its sleeve (literally-the album cover is an homage to Belle and Sebastian). Those influences, easily identifiable in all 10 songs, result in an approximate mixture of dance-punk, twee, new wave and shoegaze that never sounds far from its several inspirations and antecedents.

Such defiant '80s-worship seemingly points to a regrettably backward-looking hipster aesthetic that has already spent itself, as it tends to magnify bands that have already been lifted well out of whatever sacred obscurity they once enjoyed. But whatever TPOBPAH may lack in surprise or originality for its unapologetic nod to the past, it is hard to argue with the way it makes the sound it has elected to adopt.

Lead vocalist Kip Berman can sound a bit like Morrissey on a happy day (if he ever had one), with confident, reverberant and somewhat soothing vocals. At times, his mid-range lead is crucially supplemented by the gentle harmonizing of keyboardist Peggy Wang, whose celestial synth notes add to the trebly tunes. Underneath this compelling layer of melody, each song features Kurt Feldman's steadily pounding drums and the harmonious counterpoint of bassist Alex Naidus. Berman's guitar, though usually a feathery element of the backdrop, will sometimes take the lead as the supercharged and fuzz-toned power driving a song forward, as evidenced by the delicious climactic surges of what is arguably the best song on the album, "Gentle Sons."

And then there's the name: The Pains of Being Pure at Heart. It certainly seems too long, as well as oh-so-cute, and perhaps ironically innocent-in a word, twee. According to the band members, they chose to name themselves after an unpublished short story written by a friend, a fact reminiscent of Stuart Murdoch of Scottish indie superstars Belle and Sebastian, whose lyrics routinely refer to childhood and adolescence. A quick glance at TPOBPAH's track list turns up several titles with a direct mention of those subjects, like "Young Adult Friction" and "A Teenager In Love." And, one critic has noted that in the song "The Love is F*cking Right!," Berman says "fecking" in the chorus rather than drop the F-bomb to reinforce an image of sweetness and innocence.

But it's not all twee. A dark streak runs through the album, as shown by the song "Stay Alive," which sounds deceptively upbeat at first yet reveals itself upon closer examination to be about suicide. And the love that is apparently "f*cking right!" is directed toward the "sister" of whoever is singing. Make of that what you will.

Regardless of their twee credentials, TPOBPAH is a group of exciting new musicians with a burgeoning following. With a new EP scheduled for release on Sept. 22, it will be interesting to see whether the band can continue to carry the indie-vintage torch without seeming too derivative and irrelevant. Brandeis students will be uniquely positioned to decide that for themselves come Friday night.