Chris Ryan
September 8, 2014
Hear, Indie Earworm, Read 
Ariel Pink returns with a new double album for 4AD on November 18th, entitled pom pom.
Across its 17 tracks and 69 minutes, pom pom is unfiltered Ariel, a pied piper
of the absurd, with infectious tales of romance, murder, frog princes and Jell-O.
The record sees the Los Angeles native strike it out alone, returning to the solo
moniker he has adopted well over a decade ago when cementing his name as a
king of pop perversion.
From demented kiddie tune collaborations with the legendary psych producer and pop prankster Kim Fowley (songs like ‘Jell-O’ and ‘Plastic Raincoats In The Pig Parade’ were written with Fowley in his hospital room during his recent battle with cancer), to beatific, windswept pop (‘Put Your Number In My Phone’, ‘Dayzed Inn Daydreams’), scuzz-punk face-melters (‘Goth Bomb’, ‘Negativ Ed’), and carnival dub psychedelia (‘Dinosaur Carebears’), pom pom is Ariel Pink’s magnum opus.
“Although this is the first “solo” record credited to my name, it is by far the least
“solo” record I have ever recorded.” – Ariel Pink
Hear pom pom lead track, ‘Put Your Number In My Phone’ here
pom pom is Ariel Pink’s third studio album for 4AD, following his Haunted Graffiti
releases Before Today (2010) and Mature Themes (2012)
The new album follows 2012’s Mature Themes which prompted The Guardian’s Simon Reynolds to call him “one of decade’s most influential indie musicians” and 2010’s Before Today which earned the #2 spot on Pitchfork’s Best Songs of the Decade list for its single “Round and Round.” Ariel has graced the cover of The FADER, The Wire, LA Weekly, XLR8R, and gotten the Pitchfork Cover Story treatment. He also performed on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon and has been profiled in the New York Times & Los Angeles Times.
