After years of recording in relative seclusion in the hills of Los Angeles, Ariel Pink (the first non-Animal Collective member on the Paw Tracks roster) made his official Paw Tracks debut with The Doldrums. Recording at home with a guitar, bass, keyboard, and 8-track (the drum sounds were created with his mouth).
Ariel Pink blends Lite FM and warped lo-fi pop into something by turns beautiful and confusing. Some may find his personal yet detached approach highly addictive, while others may be instantly turned off by the obvious lo-fi production and the vocal drumtracks.
In the summer of 2003, Pink passed a CD-R on to New York based band Animal Collective after being introduced by mutual friend Jimi Hey (of All Night Radio and Beachwood Sparks) at one of their shows. Unbeknownst to Pink, Animal Collective had recently started their own record label, Paw Tracks, and several weeks later they contacted him expressing an interest in releasing his music. Pink became the first musician on the label aside from the members of Animal Collective. The next year, the label reissued The Doldrums, an album which had been originally recorded in 1999. Since then, Paw Tracks (now co-owned by Carpark Records) has released two other reissues of Pink's previous recordings, Worn Copy and House Arrest.
Pink has gradually caught the attention of media sources around the United States as well as internationally. As most of his albums are self-made, many of them have never been heard by fans. Almost all of Pink's albums which have been commercially released come from his yet-unfinished "Haunted Graffiti" series and are thus the best known.
Pink's tours have generally been met with much negativity, primarily because his music was never intended to be performed live for commercial audiences. As he explained to LA Weekly:
“People boo me everywhere...They don't even hide their contempt. I'm used to it now...Hey, I'm giving audiences the real thing...For better or worse, I'm out there, and those are the circumstances. People don't like it when it seems like you don't know what's happening, or I'm getting bummed out with certain aspects and I can't hide it. I think people feel that pain and just think it's bad.”
Initially playing shows alone with pre-recorded music, Pink has since employed the efforts of keyboardist Kenny Gilmore, bassist Tim Koh (White Magic), drummer Jimi Hey, and guitarist Cole M. Greif-Neill (Ethnik Klensr) as Haunted Graffiti. However, even with a backing band unfamiliar audiences are generally hostile towards the unrehearsed nature of the live compositions.
In July, the band embarked on Pink's "Thanks Mom, I'm Dead" tour.
One genre that may interestingly define Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is one known as Hauntology.
Driftwood
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Look into the canine eye
The bad breath of a cross-eyed goat
Meeting children for a Monday morning
Laughter in the hangman's eye
Look into his heart so clear
Look into a heart that's right
Can't beat it off, can't beat it off at night
Moved a memory to strip for tea and smoke
Driftwood blocking up the shore dam
Short dam liquid in the phone line
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
Damsel waiting in the long line
Driftwood blocking up the shore dam
Short dam liquid in the phone line
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
Damsel waiting in the long line
Driftwood blocking up the short dam
Spiders pass along through the grass
Eating up my pampered eyes
And Dyer's country had a fair
Tokens gathered at the bar
Music on the TV screen
Never really had it all
Driftwood blocking up the short dam
Short dam liquid in the phone line
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
Damsel waiting in the long line
Driftwood blocking up the short dam
Short dam driftwood in the landline
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
Damsel waiting in the long line
Driftwood blocking up the short dam
Short dam driftwood in the phone line
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
These lyrics are a surrealistic stream of consciousness that bounce from one image to another, creating an odd and dreamlike landscape. The first stanza starts with a bizarre statement about a dog having hair, which is a normal characteristic for any dog. This could be interpreted as an indicator that the song will deal with unconventional ideas or viewpoints. The following lines mention the cross-eyed goat's bad breath and the joyous meeting of children on a Monday morning. These fragmented images could be seen as a commentary on the contradictory and unpredictable nature of life, where the joyful and the unpleasant coexist.
The second stanza introduces the titular motif of the song, driftwood, and how it blocks up the shore dam, clogs the oil well, and mixes with the liquid in the phone line. These lines could be interpreted allegorically to describe how obstacles and debris can impede progress and communication. The next lines mention a woman waiting in a long line, which could indicate the frustration and fatigue that serves as a recurring theme of the song. The verse concludes with a reference to spiders and music on TV, which seem to be more random elements that don't necessarily connect to the themes previously established.
Overall, "Driftwood" is a song that feels like a fever dream, with a sense of disorientation and confusion that creates an uneasy and fascinating atmosphere.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh my God, my dog's got hair
I am surprised that my dog, who should have hair, actually has it
Look into the canine eye
Take a good look at the eye of my dog
The bad breath of a cross-eyed goat
The unpleasant smell coming from a goat with eyes that look in different directions
Meeting children for a Monday morning
I am going to meet some kids on a Monday morning
Laughter in the hangman's eye
The executioner has a mocking smile on his face
Look into his heart so clear
Take a close look at his transparent heart
Look into a heart that's right
Examine a heart that is morally correct
Can't beat it off, can't beat it off at night
I can't stop thinking about it, even at night
Tomorrow Jeannie and Jackie elope
Jeannie and Jackie are getting married secretly tomorrow
Moved a memory to strip for tea and smoke
I recalled a past experience of undressing to have tea and cigarettes
Driftwood blocking up the shore dam
The accumulation of driftwood is obstructing the flow of water at the shore
Short dam liquid in the phone line
The phone line is experiencing interference that is causing a short circuit
Driftwood clogging up the oil well
The oil well is getting blocked by the accumulation of driftwood
Damsel waiting in the long line
A woman is waiting patiently in the long queue
Spiders pass along through the grass
Spiders are crawling around in the grass
Eating up my pampered eyes
My eyes, which are treated delicately, are getting damaged
And Dyer's country had a fair
In Dyer's country, they recently had a festival
Tokens gathered at the bar
Small metal coins were collected at the bar
Music on the TV screen
The sound of music is coming from the TV
Never really had it all
I never had everything I wanted in life
Short dam driftwood in the landline
There is driftwood obstructing the communication line on land
Short dam driftwood in the phone line
The phone line is experiencing interference due to driftwood accumulation in a nearby short dam
Lyrics © A SIDE MUSIC LLC D/B/A MODERN WORKS MUSIC PUBLISHING, Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: ARIEL ROSENBERG, JOE KENNEDY, KENNETH GILMORE, TIM KOH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind