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Ariel Pink

Pink does more than you think. There are only a handful of artists in one's lifetime which manage to really reach deep down into your soul and trigger a powerful reaction an audience. I'm not speaking of a large scale reaction where an artwork might polarize a public, but one on a much more personal level where affinities are discovered in the details of a work; the use and choice of colors, a certain melodic phrasing, evocative imagery through words, even a lifestyle. When one finds him or herself through these details, as if a part of their personality has been mirrored through parts of the artwork, a strong bond is formed with the artist. This bond is sometimes widely accepted in public when an artist's work is more universal, but I find the relations to odd and more obscure artists much more fascinating and revelating of a person. Tell me who you like and I will tell you who you are. Of the few artists that have had such an impact on me, I could mention Philip Glass, Boards Of Canada, Loren Connors, Harmony Korine, Andrei Tarkovsky, Bela Tarr, Alfons Mucha, the Vienna Actionists, Charlie White... and now to these I would like to add LA-based DIY artist Ariel Pink!

I had heard the name years ago, but was never compelled to actually listen to any of his work (I was slightly curious, but the strong love/hate reactions I noticed made me pass on the occasion). The better known Animal Collective found him great enough to be the first non-related artist to be released on their Paw Tracks label. Flash forward to early 2007, for some reason, I'm curious to find if there are any videos about trepanation on YouTube (yeah I know, I'm a sick puppy!) and my search lead me to a small one minute clip for Ariel Pink's Trepanated (which reminded me of Beck's video for Loser - the early slacker touch is certainly very present here). The video in itself was nothing exceptional, but the music immediately struck me as odd and appealing. Was this what he always sounded like? So I looked for more and found the video for For Kate I Wait. From that moment on, I fell under Pink's spell and did something I hadn't done in ages: I immediately grabbed the car, drove to downtown Montreal and purchased everything I could get my hands on and ordered everything else.

I can understand why some might hate his music. He really does go all-out to make sure the audio sounds as lo-fi as possible and it does feel quite amateurish at times, but this guy's definitely done his homework if you ask me. He's captured the spirit of the late seventies and early eighties and managed to bundle it all up in a sloppy little package. Each of his songs sound as if they were discovered in a pile of cheap old tapes under an abandoned 1982 Camaro, covered in dust and smelling of dirty leather gloves. Some people will want to kill me for saying this, but Ariel Pink's music bares a resemblance to Boards Of Canada (especially early BoC), both artists have a very distinct nostalgic quality to their sound (and much like the scottish duo, Ariel Pink is rumored to have tons of unreleased material that he's been recording since the mid nineties). The delivery might be completely different, but the overall effect on me is the same. But don't get me wrong, this artist just oozes with different influences: besides BoC and the aforementioned Beck, I can hear the free-spiritedness of german hippy collective Amon Düül, early glam-era Bowie, Kate Bush synth pop and even some out-of-control Gong-like moments. I haven't been able to stop listening to his music since I first heard it and I'll be keeping an eye open for more releases.

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