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.
Foilly Foibles/GOLD
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Was more mistakes
The price we paid for stealing gold from them
We paid with gold
There's still a lot more, never learned my lesson
No more mistakes anymore, gold
I don't wanna shake it
I'm dressing up
I'm dressin' up in gold
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old with gold
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old in gold
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old in gold
Grow old, grow old, grow old in gold
2 by 2 times 4
Get on the floor
Piss on the poor
How much change you lookin' for? Hey
It's a job, it's a natural fact, is it?
It's a job, foilly foibles, ooh
Change is my friend, foilly foibles
I'm it again, foilly foibles
Stuck in a ditch, hey, foilly foibles
Without a stitch, hey, oh, oh, foilly foibles, oh
Lifted again, foilly foibles
Stole your friend, foilly
The price we paid for wanting nothing special
Was nothing, not even the special
The price we paid for eating gold for breakfast
Was getting fat and homely, our skin is getting old
Ooh, don't wanna shake it
I'm dressing it up in gold
Being friendly only
When gold was thrown right at me
Booed off the stage but I'm still
The one laughing, heh
It's a job, it's a natural fact, is it?
It's a job, foilly foibles
Foilly's my friend, foilly foibles, ooh
Do it again, hey, foilly foibles, ooh
Do it for free, ho ho, foilly foibles, ooh
Lie in the ditch, foilly foibles, ooh
What can I get? Foilly foibles, ooh
Nothing I can do, afraid, foilly foibles, ooh
Afraid, hey, foilly foibles, ooh
Afraid, foilly foibles, hey
Afraid, foilly foibles
The lyrics of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's song Foilly Foibles/GOLD are filled with social commentary and criticism. The first verse talks about the consequences of making mistakes, and how the price we pay for those mistakes is often more mistakes. The second verse is a reference to the greed that drives people to steal gold and how they end up paying with the same. The chorus talks about growing old with gold, implying that people are so obsessed with acquiring wealth that they forget about aging and other important things in life.
The bridge of the song is an interesting take on society's attitude towards the poor. The line "piss on the poor, how much change you looking for" is a stark and brutal reminder of how the wealthy treat the marginalized sections of society. The song also talks about the nature of work, how it is often just a means to an end, and how people are willing to do anything for money. The line "It's a job, it's a natural fact, is it?" suggests that people have resigned to the fact that they have to work and that there is no other way around it.
The song's title "Foilly Foibles" is a play on the word "foibles," which means a minor weakness or eccentricity in someone's character. Here, it is used to describe society's obsession with wealth and material possessions. Overall, the song is a cynical commentary on society and capitalism, highlighting the flaws and shortcomings of our modern world.
Line by Line Meaning
The price we paid for our mistakes today
Was more mistakes
We made more mistakes as a result of paying a price for our previous mistakes
The price we paid for stealing gold from them
We paid with gold
We paid for the gold we stole by giving them more gold
There's still a lot more, never learned my lesson
No more mistakes anymore, gold
Despite not learning our lesson, we have no more room for mistakes because we only have gold now
My skin is turning old
I don't wanna shake it
I'm dressing up
I'm dressin' up in gold
I'm getting old and don't want to show it, so I'm wearing gold to cover it up
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old with gold
Grow old, grow old
Grow old, grow old in gold
As we get older, we want to grow old with and in gold
2 by 2 times 4
Get on the floor
Piss on the poor
How much change you lookin' for? Hey
Mocking and demeaning the poor by asking how much change they want while urinating on them
It's a job, it's a natural fact, is it?
It's a job, foilly foibles, ooh
Change is my friend, foilly foibles
I'm it again, foilly foibles
Mocking the idea that it's natural to exploit and demean others for personal gain, with 'foilly foibles' being a euphemism for said exploitation
Stuck in a ditch, hey, foilly foibles
Without a stitch, hey, oh, oh, foilly foibles, oh
Lifted again, foilly foibles
Stole your friend, foilly
Placing oneself in a difficult situation due to one's actions, while simultaneously finding a way out and betraying a friend
The price we paid for wanting nothing special
Was nothing, not even the special
The price we paid for eating gold for breakfast
Was getting fat and homely, our skin is getting old
We paid the price of having nothing special, not even what we initially desired. The consequence of consuming gold was unattractive physical appearance and getting old
Ooh, don't wanna shake it
I'm dressing it up in gold
Refusing to show the effects of aging and dressing up with gold instead
Being friendly only
When gold was thrown right at me
Booed off the stage but I'm still
The one laughing, heh
Only being friendly to those who give us gold, laughed offstage for our actions but still feeling superior
It's a job, it's a natural fact, is it?
It's a job, foilly foibles
Foilly's my friend, foilly foibles, ooh
Do it again, hey, foilly foibles, ooh
Do it for free, ho ho, foilly foibles, ooh
Dehumanizing our exploitative actions by calling them a natural part of life with 'foilly foibles' as a euphemism, and reiterating our willingness to continue to exploit for free
Lie in the ditch, foilly foibles, ooh
What can I get? Foilly foibles, ooh
Nothing I can do, afraid, foilly foibles, ooh
Afraid, hey, foilly foibles, ooh
Afraid, foilly foibles, hey
Afraid, foilly foibles
Being stuck in the consequences of our decisions and acknowledging there's nothing we can do, expressed as fear, while continuing on the same path of exploitation
Contributed by Lauren V. Suggest a correction in the comments below.