How a group of circa-2014 Brooklyn indie popsters manage to capture a variation on the glorious Anglo pop of Prefab Sprout is one of those questions that’s come about ever since millennials became so obsessed with the sounds of the ‘80s. Yet at a new Brooklyn studio owned by their longtime associate Danny Taylor, with producer Andy Savours (My Bloody Valentine, Cloud Boat), The Pains went in a very different direction than their previous album: the Flood and Alan Moulder production Belong. The lighter touch here works wonders. Songs like “Eurydice,” “Masokissed,” and “Until the Sun Explodes” (recalling The Cure's “In-Between Days”) bounce with genuine enthusiasm even when the lyrics veer toward darker territory. The departure of original members Alex Naidus and Peggy Wang means A Sunny Day in Glasgow’s Jen Goma is given solid lead vocals on the excellent “Kelly” and “Life After Life,” where the nod is toward Belle & Sebastian, Scotland’s greatest indie export.