Biography
The earliest phase of Ariel Pink's idiosyncratic aesthetic, documented on releases credited to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, leaned into markedly lo-fi sonics and oddly paradoxical compositional decisions. Subsequent LPs issued without that Haunted Graffiti tag presented a comparatively streamlined version of his splintered pop instincts, yet the hazy, alien textures and abrupt detours of early-2000s titles such as The Doldrums and Worn Copy refracted the legacies of Bowie, R. Stevie Moore, and '80s FM pop through layers of psychedelic disorientation.
During his time at art school in the late '90s, Pink started tinkering with a cassette multitrack recorder. As early as 1997 he began issuing some of those experiments himself on home-burned CD-R albums, distributing limited runs of his eccentric bedroom pop. His initial major Haunted Graffiti set, The Doldrums, was tracked between 1999 and 2000 and submitted as a class final project. That recording was succeeded a few years later by Vital Pink. Both The Doldrums and Vital Pink circulated at first solely as CD-Rs that Pink duplicated on his personal computer, until 2004 brought a deal with Animal Collective's Paw Tracks imprint—the label's first signing outside its own circle. In October of that year Paw Tracks re-released The Doldrums, appending the Vital Pink tracks.
Worn Copy, originally put out by Rhystop in 2003, likewise received a Paw Tracks reissue in 2005. The next year proved especially active for Pink: House Arrest, a joint effort involving his Ball Bearings Piñatas side project, surfaced at the start of 2006. He also joined Matt Fishbeck for the Holy Shit album Stranded at Two Harbors and contributed Pedestrian Pop Hits to the Latitude series. In 2007 Human Ear Music issued Scared Famous, a compilation drawn from 2002 sessions. By 2008 Pink had assembled a steady live lineup of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kenny Gilmore, drummer/vocalist/guitarist Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill; the musicians adopted the name Haunted Graffiti and toured alongside Chairlift, the Vivian Girls, and Cryptacize. That same year he collaborated with Half-Handed Cloud on Unusual Animals, Vol. 3, part of Asthmatic Kitty's limited-edition series.
The year after, Pink joined 4AD, which issued the single "Round & Round" in early 2010. Before Today followed that summer, displaying a noticeably more refined production approach than any prior Pink effort. In 2011 he released the 16-minute track "Witchhunt Suite for WWIII"—originally included on the 2007 tour-only album YAS DuDette—as a single marking the tenth anniversary of 9/11. He also reunited with R. Stevie Moore for the double album Ku Klux Glam, which appeared in early 2012. August of that year brought the third Haunted Graffiti album, Mature Themes, whose darker and more wide-ranging palette encompassed '60s bubblegum tributes plus a reading of Donnie and Joe Emerson's 1979 soul-pop song "Baby." In 2020, two decades after Pink first surfaced from the underground with The Doldrums, Mexican Summer launched the Ariel Archives series and began reissuing his earlier catalog. Haunted Graffiti recordings stretching back to the late '90s received deluxe treatment, allowing listeners to re-encounter some of his earliest expressions of unhinged pop invention. In January 2021 Mexican Summer ended its relationship with Pink following his attendance at a White House protest supporting then-President Trump.
During his time at art school in the late '90s, Pink started tinkering with a cassette multitrack recorder. As early as 1997 he began issuing some of those experiments himself on home-burned CD-R albums, distributing limited runs of his eccentric bedroom pop. His initial major Haunted Graffiti set, The Doldrums, was tracked between 1999 and 2000 and submitted as a class final project. That recording was succeeded a few years later by Vital Pink. Both The Doldrums and Vital Pink circulated at first solely as CD-Rs that Pink duplicated on his personal computer, until 2004 brought a deal with Animal Collective's Paw Tracks imprint—the label's first signing outside its own circle. In October of that year Paw Tracks re-released The Doldrums, appending the Vital Pink tracks.
Worn Copy, originally put out by Rhystop in 2003, likewise received a Paw Tracks reissue in 2005. The next year proved especially active for Pink: House Arrest, a joint effort involving his Ball Bearings Piñatas side project, surfaced at the start of 2006. He also joined Matt Fishbeck for the Holy Shit album Stranded at Two Harbors and contributed Pedestrian Pop Hits to the Latitude series. In 2007 Human Ear Music issued Scared Famous, a compilation drawn from 2002 sessions. By 2008 Pink had assembled a steady live lineup of multi-instrumentalist/vocalist Kenny Gilmore, drummer/vocalist/guitarist Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill; the musicians adopted the name Haunted Graffiti and toured alongside Chairlift, the Vivian Girls, and Cryptacize. That same year he collaborated with Half-Handed Cloud on Unusual Animals, Vol. 3, part of Asthmatic Kitty's limited-edition series.
The year after, Pink joined 4AD, which issued the single "Round & Round" in early 2010. Before Today followed that summer, displaying a noticeably more refined production approach than any prior Pink effort. In 2011 he released the 16-minute track "Witchhunt Suite for WWIII"—originally included on the 2007 tour-only album YAS DuDette—as a single marking the tenth anniversary of 9/11. He also reunited with R. Stevie Moore for the double album Ku Klux Glam, which appeared in early 2012. August of that year brought the third Haunted Graffiti album, Mature Themes, whose darker and more wide-ranging palette encompassed '60s bubblegum tributes plus a reading of Donnie and Joe Emerson's 1979 soul-pop song "Baby." In 2020, two decades after Pink first surfaced from the underground with The Doldrums, Mexican Summer launched the Ariel Archives series and began reissuing his earlier catalog. Haunted Graffiti recordings stretching back to the late '90s received deluxe treatment, allowing listeners to re-encounter some of his earliest expressions of unhinged pop invention. In January 2021 Mexican Summer ended its relationship with Pink following his attendance at a White House protest supporting then-President Trump.
Albums
Singles
