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.
See the Girl
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
See the girl over there
She used to be mine
See the girl over there
She would love me all of the time
Now she’s gone away
Far across the sea
That she never loved me
I’d do anything to see her walk through that door
I’d give up everything to call her once more
And now she’s gone, gone away
Far across the sea
And I know for sure
That she never loved me
I remember how she used to say
She’d help me all of the time
Now that she went away
She’ll never be mine
Now she’s gone, gone away
Far across the sea
And I know that for sure
That she never loved me
She’s gone away across the sea
And I know, I know for sure
That she never loved me
She’s gone away, far across the sea
And I know, I know for sure
That she’ll never love me
The song "See the Girl" by Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti is a cover of the song by The Psychopaths. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of a person who has lost their lover, who has gone away across the sea. The singer reminisces about their past relationship and laments that the girl never loved them. The chorus expresses the singer's intense desire to see the girl again and to have her back in their life.
The song captures the heartbreak and longing for a lost love, with the melancholic melody and simple lyrics creating a haunting atmosphere. The repetition of "see the girl over there" creates a sense of distance and separation, emphasizing the physical and emotional distance between the singer and their former lover.
Overall, "See the Girl" is a poignant and reflective song that speaks to the universal experience of unrequited love and lost relationships.
Line by Line Meaning
See the girl over there
The singer is pointing out a girl and drawing attention to her
She used to be mine
The girl the singer is pointing out was once their romantic partner
She would love me all of the time
The girl the singer is pointing out used to be very affectionate towards the singer
Now she’s gone away
The girl the artist is pointing out is no longer present in their life
Far across the sea
The girl the artist is referring to is physically distant, potentially in a different country
And I know for sure
The singer is confident in their understanding of the situation
That she never loved me
The singer believes that the girl they used to be with did not truly love them
I’d do anything to see her walk through that door
The artist is expressing their desire and willingness to reunite with the girl they used to be with
I’d give up everything to call her once more
The artist is emphasizing the depth of their longing to speak with their former partner again
I remember how she used to say
The artist is reminiscing about the way their former partner used to talk
She’d help me all of the time
The singer is recalling the kindness and support they received from their former partner
Now that she went away
The artist is acknowledging their former partner's absence and the impact it has had on their life
She’ll never be mine
The singer has resigned themselves to the fact that they will not be reunited with their former partner
Contributed by Mateo H. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Leah Holst
Thanks for uploading all these good Ariel Pink songs i've never even heard before!
Saint Babylon
Good humor, & hair cuts.
Lichy Popo
perfect
Sarah Doane
👍👍👍
alexandra alvarez
Bella dios mio
Ghost Curtain
It's a cover of a song by The Psychopaths watch?v=ojEQKNnvokQ
Yoni Keynan
how
Kevin Wu
hi taco