Ariel Pink is really good at making people remember. Not anything specific, but his music is inarguably nostalgia-inducing.
It is this way because the musicality of each track is indicative of another era, or more accurately, other eras.
On Mature Themes, his first proper album since 2010’s hit Before Today, Pink maintains this ability to make an audience remember and manages to takes it up a notch by stepping up his game lyrically. That isn’t to say that Pink’s lyrics are particularly apt or poetic, but they do serve their purpose almost perfectly.
Listening to Pink’s music is like listening to a great Motown or Sun Records album, but without the knowledge that what you’re listening to is entirely dated and because of that, Pink is rightfully considered one of the best genre amalgamators around.
‘Is This The Best Spot?’ reeks of noisy 80s new-wave pop, so much so that it could pass as a collaboration with Gary Numan. Along with the wilfully ridiculous ‘Schnitzel Boogie’ – a song, literally about eating the titular dish – it demonstrates Pink’s more humorous, less emotional, musical side.
Mature Themes‘ true highlights however, are when Pink decides to take himself seriously enough to resign himself to emotion. The sentimental standouts are ‘Only In My Dreams’, which is all jangling guitars and lazy harmonies and album closer ‘Baby’, which could put any Stax record to shame.
Pink just isn’t afraid of imitation, and because of his lack of fear of being called out for mimicking dated sounds, he lets himself meld seemingly opposite styles into three-minute works of fluid musical accomplishments. A stellar record.
-Esther Semo
