It’s easy to say Ariel Pink is one of the most divisive characters in the music industry right now.
Alongside allegations come rave reviews; two very opposing and somewhat contradicting viewpoints. It seems more and more, we as a society are being forced to ask the question of whether you can indeed separate the man from the work.
Pink’s slated appearance at Face The Music was certainly one shrouded in confusion and curiosity. Described as an “anti-hero”, Pink sits down with 3RRR’s Lauren Taylor and Simon Winkler to talk about all of the above and more.
Here’s what we took away from In Conversation With Ariel Pink…
From the moment he sat down Ariel Pink did not seem comfortable. Arms and legs crossed, seemingly closed off from both the moderators, Lauren Taylor and Simon Winkler, and the audience.
Taylor and Winkler then introduce Pink - he seems disinterested. They go on to explain they’ll be sharing some of Pink’s clips throughout the discussion, starting with one of people reacting to being filmed without their permission.
“I don’t even know what you’re going to play,” responds Pink when Taylor asks him to explain about the clip.
The conversation moves past the clip to Pink’s relationship with both Melbourne and his hometown of Los Angeles.
“I see myself as sort of a weird fixture,” he says on being a mentor to up and coming artists in LA. “I feel like I’m at the whim of other people and I’m just trying to not feel jaded by it.”
The subject changes to Bobby Jameson - the man in which Pink’s latest album is named after, inspired by and dedicated to. For the first time since the conversation began, Pink seems genuinely interested and begins to unfurl his body.
He’s asked what Jameson meant to him, and his answer of “I’ve said so many times it’s not true anymore” is a little abrupt.
“It was like what Bob Dylan felt like when he discovered Woody Guthrie.”
“It’s a double edge sword,” he says on sharing the artists that he discovers and loves. “Part of me is certain that you guys don’t deserve it. That the world doesn’t deserve it.”
“I’ve got that impulse to share things but I’m also extremely guarded.”
Pink’s own musical evolution eventually comes up, something he says that he “always want[s] to evolve sideways.”
“I’m at the risk of being dad rock at this point.”
“I’ve had fun with it too. I tend to see what I do as psych rock. But like psychology rock.”
On finding his identity, Pink says in his high school years that he did indulge in the “me vs the world kind of thing,” but now, “I see myself now as less ego driven or less idealistic.”
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