This album is essentially a dude rambling sleazy nonsense
over a bunch of lo-fi instrumentals that sound like they’re straight from eighties
TV commercials. It’s cheesy. It’s silly. It's, for the most part, terribly
uncool. It’s also among one of the best records I’ve heard all year.
Here’s why: Ariel Pink knows he’s an uncool motherfucker. It’s
his shtick. He spends his songs portraying the loser and not the college-movie-misfit
kind, but rather the genuine friendless creep who never gets the girl and never will. What’s impressive is
that Ariel keeps a charmingly innocent tone to it all, rather than a tasteless rapey
vibe. The characters he plays are so pitiful and so embarrassing, but likably and
comically so.
The instrumentals, as retro and corny as they are, are also
undeniably nostalgic. Part of me wants to hate the reverb-soaked synths and farting
basslines and electronic panpipes but it’s all adorable. The lo-fi production
helps. Some of the songs feel like they’re coming out of car speakers, giving the
impression of one of those long childhood car journeys you’d spend staring out
the backseat window. Lazy-guitar number ‘Put Your Number in my Phone’ and power
ballad ‘Picture me Gone’ are good examples of this vibe. Other tracks aren’t
quite as smooth and take the whacky cartoonish route instead such as ‘Dinosaur
Carebears’.
This track sees a transition from dark-noise-rock with
reverend-like vocals to cheap parping electronica to holiday park pop reggae. It’s
one of the weirder moments on the record and will undoubtedly have many
listeners raising their eyebrows sceptically. I personally love it’s inclusion
and it serves as a reminder midway through the album that anything is possible
on the next side.
This fragility and unpredictability is important in keeping
any album engaging. The record isn’t a perfectly polished product. It’s got rough
edges and bits that don’t quite work, deliberately so, just to remind you that
nothing is perfect.
Hell, I’m still going to give the LP five stars though.
★★★★★
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