House Arrest is a re-release on Animal Collective’s Paw Tracks label of material Ariel Pink recorded between October 2001 and June 2002. This album is Pink at his best; it is fun, catchy, totally weird, and challenging. Pink’s music has an addictive quality that is unlike anything I’ve experienced before. Once you stop listening to House Arrest you will undoubtedly find yourself thinking about it constantly, becoming consumed by it, to the point where you will do almost anything to once again find yourself in the company of the ever so inviting, Ariel Pink.
Now before I get too carried away, I must concede that when you listen to the album for the first time, you’ll probably think he’s crazy—and that I’m crazy for writing such overzealous, hyperbolic praise. That’s a normal reaction. As a self-defined “home taper,” Pink records all his music on a Yamaha 8-track and plays all the instruments himself—oh, and the percussion that you hear, that’s not actual drums, or even a drum machine, that’s Pink making (rather impressive) sounds with is mouth. This is truly a low-fi masterpiece.
I dare anyone to listen to “Hardcore Pops are Fun” and “Interesting Results” and not, at some point, begin to have as much fun as Ariel himself seems to be having. These songs are catchy, interesting, and somehow like everything and nothing that you’ve heard before.
Ariel Pink has this uncanny ability to both appropriate the sound of 1970’s and 1980’s pop classics, while make them sound new and refreshing. The best adjective I can find to describe the music is schizophrenic, and I mean that in the best possible way. I truly love all the messiness and confusion that is endemic on House Arrest. The rawness of the sound is appealing and endearing.
I love “Helen,” its pop sensibility reminded me of a 70s tune, but I couldn’t quite figure out which one. That’s what makes Pink’s music pure genius. He can evoke another time and place, a different feeing and attitude, but one that is both foreign and familiar. And in that way he pulls us all in.
All I can say is go out and buy this CD and let Ariel Pink make a believer out of you. The CD should come with a warning, like those that accompany cigarettes and booze, explicitly indicating that House Arrest is addictive and may cause overwhelming feelings of nostalgia that you didn’t even know you had.
