In The Pink

ARIEL PINK
WORDS: JJ Dunning

Long a master of lo-fi, Ariel Pink finds himself the figurehead for an exciting new era of guitar music. JJ Dunning flails through the fuzz…

He’s about thirty, lank-haired, and has dirt under his fingernails. Yup, Ariel Pink is a proper, unwashed rock star. And – even though it pains us to be this lopsided and improper – he’s something of a Kurt-a-like today; thin, shu  ing and bent, and clad in a ripped black-and-red long-sleeve tee. Yet, underneath that grunge mop is a brain unlike any we’ve encountered before. One minute he’s vague and rambling, shedding stoner half-sentences, the next he is intense and erudite, constructing fantastical, entertaining, well-informed tangents on the future of neuroscience. “I read a lot,” he says, glancing up from a bowl of thin soup, and a smile spreads across his face, “I really do.” In our short meeting with the Californian today, a lot of things come to be crystal clear. Firstly, it’s di  cult to keep up; his mind skips about like a cricket on a hot roof. If there’s an odd subject drifting into view, you’d better ride it til it gets boring. Secondly, he is restless and distracted, but also funny and engaging. Third, he wants to be as big as Kylie. We could give you a breakdown of the whys and wherefores of his zig-zaggy path through the indie backstreets (he’s had nine albums and counting, so far), but frankly that’d be missing the point a bit. Yes, he got his break by handing a CD-R to Animal Collective. No, he doesn’t want to talk about how he met them. He just met them. The point is, seven years on, Ariel Pink is releasing his first proper label record, the excellent ‘Before Today’. Compared to his earlier work it’s more coherent – probably because it’s the first to be recorded in a studio, with the help of a full band, and not by Pink, on his own, in his bedroom – it’s less skuzzy, and shows off his incredibly sharp ear for melodic hooks (‘Round And Round’, ‘Bright Lit Blue Skies’), his totally genius about-arse approach to songwriting (‘Little Wig’) and his knack for lyrics that double as simple mantra-like musings on the futility of, oh, y’know, just about bloody everything (‘Beverley Kills’’s repetitious “Can’t! Stop! The Press!” is particularly brilliant). Not to mention that loads of it just sounds like 10cc. Which is wonderful. So why hasn’t he used synths on an album before? “Synths?!” Ariel pulls a horrified face. We bumble an apology. What’s that sound then? “It’s humans.” He deadpans. “Humans playing the music, as opposed to one robot: me.” Clearly, this is Ariel’s way of saying that getting a band has changed his sound. “The fact that I got attention for what I did on my own was unusual enough. I was ready to just go to the grave with those records. Ready to be an unknown. Not just do my own thing; be an unknown. Be an unknown, because that’s where I was going. The only reason I did things all by myself is because you can’t rely on other people to do things for you. But, since I cut my teeth playing live for the last five years, I saw the band as a goal – getting a lineup that was suitable, that can possibly take it to the next level and create an excuse for itself kind of thing.” So how far does he think he can take the band? “Madison Square Garden,” he grins. “Honestly, I would really like to do it. My music has been unconventional for way too long. I think it’s about time I jumped on the conventional bandwagon.” Does he consider himself as any sort of Godfather to the new lo-¬ generation? Bands like Wavves, Times New Viking, Ganglians? “Well, they consider me that. I’m happy to be emulated in any kind of way. I’m happy to be referenced. Honestly, can Devendra Banhart say the same thing? This is my peer. So I know how fickle the whole thing is, I know how quickly people fall out of favour. I’m just happy to be doing it at all. If it keeps me for another five years doing it, it’s more than I expect. ” He helps himself to another mouthful of noodles, then adds philosophically, “The longer that I’m around on the planet, the longer that I can peddle my bullshit”.
A more lovely way of putting it, there surely isn’t. As far as we’re concerned, Mr. Pink’s bullshit is coming up roses.

‘Before Today’ is out now on 4AD.