Pink Alert

Chances are you haven’t heard of Ariel Pink, but he is currently one of the most gifted mavericks operating in the US underground. Fans of his lo-fi avant-pop include Alan McGee, Simon Reynolds, Klaxons and Animal Collective, who first exposed the Los Angeles musician to a wider audience by signing him to their Paw Tracks label.

Although Ariel’s live shows were once shambolic affairs, primarily involving him howling over backing tapes, in recent times the singer - who this month will perform in Belfast and Dublin – has been bewitching audiences in tandem with his group Haunted Graffiti.
“We’ve been kicking ass,” enthuses Ariel. “The shows have been a lot easier on me and the audience, and things have been going really well. The band rocks.”
Ariel says that it’s taken him some time to find the right collection of musicians to work with. However, now that he has, he also writes with the group in addition to playing live.
“The whole point of assembling the band was to eventually arrive at a place where there would be total chemistry between all of the members,” explains Ariel. “I love writing with other people. I mean, it does have its limitations, but I’m lucky in that the band is extremely receptive to my direction. They have all the patience in the world, which they need to deal with me trying to mould their playing to what I hear in my head. We’re constantly fine-tuning material.”
Whilst he is currently in search of a long-term record deal, Ariel remains grateful to Animal Collective for the boost in profile he enjoyed as a result of signing to Paw Tracks.
“At the beginning, I didn’t know them,” he reflects. “But I now consider them to be a group of really cool dudes who continue to be friends. And they continue to put their friends in front of their careers, in a sense. I really think theirs is a very good model for future bands. They’ve accomplished a lot and I think it’s amazing.”
Ariel is responsible for creating ‘For Kate I Wait’, a stunning tune that plays like ‘In Dreams’ for the 21st century. Did he realise he’d achieved something truly special when he wrote it?
“That’s my favourite song of my own,” he responds. “I still think it’s unsurpassed in my repertoire, and the way people received it confirms that. At the time, it was a breakthrough. After that, it became a signpost to a new era in my own recording adventures. It’s actually the most challenging song to pull off live. It’s with great pride that I embark on this tour, really nailing it for the first time with the band. It’ll blow your mind; the guys know it inside out, every curvature of the form. And the same goes for every song we play.”
I first became acquainted with ‘For Kate I Wait’ – and Ariel’s work in general – thanks to Klaxons’ selection of the track for their brilliant Bugged Out Mix. Was Ariel aware of the song’s inclusion on the album?
“Yeah, they had to ask for my permission to use it,” he recalls. “I wasn’t really aware of who Klaxons were, although I’ve since heard bits and pieces, like ‘Gravity’s Rainbow’. But certainly at the time, I didn’t know just how popular they are in Europe. I should have charged them more money!”