Ariel Pink (born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg on June 24, 1978) is a Los Angeles … Read Full Bio ↴Ariel Pink (born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg on June 24, 1978) is a Los Angeles based experimental/pop musician. Pink boasts a cult following and endorsements from more widely known artists such as fellow founding Paw Tracks group Animal Collective.

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.

Spires In The Snow
Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

There she is in my room (x2)

I can see dead bodies outside the screen
Fear to meet my doom

There she is in my heart
There she is in my soul

Terrible pictures watching me
There, I take control

Spires in the snow(x2)

There I cannot lie
There I was inside

A spinning blade of vanished pride
That pierces in my mind

There are eyes I see
Full of shapes of me

Confessions built in three dimensions
Locked inside the key

Spire in the snow field (x2)

We all shall die (x10)

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti's Spires In The Snow express a feeling of being trapped and haunted by memories and the fear of death. The repetition of "there she is in my room/heart/soul" suggests a presence that is constantly with the singer, perhaps a reference to a lost loved one or a haunting spirit. The image of dead bodies outside the screen and the fear of meeting doom convey a sense of impending danger that is never fully realized. The line "there, I take control" indicates a need to overcome this fear and take charge of one's own life.

The chorus "spires in the snow" can be interpreted in several ways. It may refer to the cold, bleak landscape of the singer's mind, with the spires representing a lofty, unattainable goal. Alternatively, the spires may represent structures built by humans that are now abandoned, evoking a sense of decay and loss. The line "we all shall die" repeated ten times at the end underscores the theme of mortality and the inevitability of death.

Line by Line Meaning

There she is in my room (x2)
I feel a haunting presence in my room, which I believe to be a ghostly figure of a woman.

I can see dead bodies outside the screen
I am surrounded by dead bodies outside my window, but they are not physically present, only visible through the screen.

Fear to meet my doom
I am afraid to face my own death, as I imagine it to be a terrifying experience.

There she is in my heart
The ghostly figure of the woman has entered my heart, and I can feel her presence there.

There she is in my soul
The ghostly figure has become a part of my soul, and I cannot escape her haunting.

Terrible pictures watching me
I am constantly being watched by disturbing images and visions.

There, I take control
Despite my fears and the haunting presence, I am able to take control of the situation and my emotions.

Spires in the snow(x2)
I see tall, sharp structures rising out of a snow-covered landscape.

There I cannot lie
In this place, I am forced to confront the truth and cannot deceive myself or others.

There I was inside
I am trapped inside this place, unable to escape its grasp.

A spinning blade of vanished pride
I feel a sense of shame and humiliation that cuts into my mind like a sharp, spinning blade.

That pierces in my mind
The shame and humiliation I feel is so strong that it feels like it is piercing into my mind.

There are eyes I see
I feel as though I am being watched by unseen eyes in this place.

Full of shapes of me
The eyes watching me are filled with various versions of myself, reflecting different aspects of my personality and psyche.

Confessions built in three dimensions
In this place, I am forced to confront and confess to my deepest secrets and fears, which take on a physical form.

Locked inside the key
These confessions and secrets are locked away deep inside my mind, and I cannot escape them.

Spire in the snow field (x2)
I still see the tall, sharp structures rising out of the snowy landscape, and they continue to haunt me.

We all shall die (x10)
A final message of mortality and the inevitability of death, repeated ten times for emphasis.

Contributed by Arianna L. Suggest a correction in the comments below.

To comment on or correct specific content, highlight it

TRACKS