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.
Ghosts
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Go far away
I don't want you in my dreams anymore
Helen, please don't cry to mother
Because I'll die, no
Please go away,
Please don't you run,
Go away down the hall
Please go away, down the hall,
Don't you go
Down the hall
No, not one room is yours to play in
Without sound
Your soul is bound
By clanging chains (x3)
Ghosts (x3)
One minute you're a host
Standing there
And then bang, you're a ghost
Ghost
One minute you're the host
Standing there
And then bang,
(Ghost)
It's just a ghost
You're just a gho-
Go away with your very own time and place
Let the ground in the earth forget your name
No, Helen, please don't cry
Go and die
Please go away,
Don't you run down the hall (x2)
Please don't you run,
Please go down the hall
No, not one room is yours to play in
Without sound
Your soul is bound
By clanging chains (x3)
Ghosts (x3)
One minute you're a host
Standing there
And then bang, you're a ghost
(Ghost)
One second you're standing there
Like a host then it's bang,
(Just a)
You're just a ghost
Just a ghost
Ghost
Ghost
The lyrics of Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's song "Ghosts" seem to depict a battle between the singer and haunting ghosts. The singer is asking the ghosts to go away because he does not want them in his dreams anymore. The mention of Helen and her crying to their mother may suggest that the singer is haunted by the ghost of someone he knows, and he does not want the ghost to bother him anymore. Towards the end of the song, the singer tells the ghost to go away with its very own time and place and to let the ground forget its name. The clanging chains mentioned in the song may be a metaphor for the emotional baggage that comes with death or loss.
Line by Line Meaning
Go away, ghosts,
The singer is addressing ghosts and telling them to leave
Go far away
The singer wants the ghosts to go very far away
I don't want you in my dreams anymore
The singer does not want the ghosts to appear in their dreams anymore
Helen, please don't cry to mother
The artist is addressing someone named Helen and asking them not to cry to their mother
Because I'll die, no
The artist will die if Helen cries to their mother
Please go away,
The singer is asking the ghosts to go away
Don't you run down the hall
The singer does not want the ghosts to run down the hall
Please don't you run,
The artist is asking the ghosts not to run
Go away down the hall
The artist wants the ghosts to go away down the hall
Please go away, down the hall,
The artist is pleading with the ghosts to go away down the hall
Don't you go
The singer does not want the ghosts to go
No, not one room is yours to play in
The ghosts are not allowed to play in any room
Without sound
The ghosts must not make any sound
Your soul is bound
The ghosts' souls are bound in some way
By clanging chains (x3)
The ghosts' souls are bound by clanging chains
Ghosts (x3)
The artist is again addressing the ghosts
One minute you're a host
The ghosts can transform from hosts to ghosts in a minute
Standing there
The ghosts are standing there
And then bang, you're a ghost
The ghosts can transform suddenly
Ghost
This line is repeated several times
One second you're standing there
The ghosts can appear and disappear suddenly
Like a host then it's bang,
The ghosts can turn from hosts to ghosts suddenly
(Just a)
The ghosts are referred to as 'just a'
You're just a ghost
The ghosts are just ghosts
Go away with your very own time and place
The singer is telling the ghosts to go away to their own time and place
Let the ground in the earth forget your name
The singer wants the world to forget about the ghosts
No, Helen, please don't cry
The singer is addressing Helen again and asking them not to cry
Go and die
The artist is telling Helen to go and die
Please go away,
The artist is repeating their plea for the ghosts to go away
Don't you run down the hall (x2)
The singer is again asking the ghosts not to run down the hall
Just a ghost
The ghosts are referred to as 'just a ghost'
Ghost
The song ends with a repetition of the word 'ghost'
Contributed by Kaylee K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.