Alright, so Ariel Pink dropped a new album recently. It's the first thing I've heard from him since the release of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, an album I didn't pay much attention to. As I understand it the guy's made a name for himself drawing on goth/glam, lofi home recording, and strange avante gardeness. Onto the album, then.
PomPom by Ariel Pink
Damn this is a strange one. It goes in a lot of different directions, sometimes within tracks sometimes between tracks. It's on the longer side, just over an hour and I have to admit I had a hard time with that. It's silly, it's obnoxious, it's funny. It's somethin else. It'll throw you around from thinking of Sisters of Mercy, 70s porn soundtracks, 80s synthy cocainepop, Japanese gameshow music,
Black Sabbath... It'll take more than a few listens to know what to expect next. Frankly I'm not sure I have the patience for that but the few pop gems here and there, mostly at the start of the album, like "Put Your Number in My Phone" (by far my favorite), "Picture Me Gone", "Lipstick", and the aptly titled closing track "Dayzed Inn Daydreams" kept me interested. Fans of eccentric pop will find things to like. Fans of perhaps inane experimental avant garde music will too. But if you're like me and have a hard time with one or the other the album's gonna be a difficult listen. All in all I'd say it's a 7/10. The songs I like I really like and fortunately that's a good portion of the album. I ended up wishing the album was
just songs that had that cheery, spacey indie-pop vibe to them but I think his other side, the more experimental one, definitely is part of the draw for some listeners.