With pom pom, Ariel Pink now has three major label albums, all on 4AD. This album will come off, if nothing else, then as exactly what Ariel fans expect from him. Prevalent here are production values. Ariel’s insistence that he only makes music for himself amazes, since he has recently had such incredible production values on label driven records. What Ariel Pink does well, production values or not, is layer music heavily with effects, and rail off catchy vocals over it. From Scared Famous on, this has always been the case.
“Black Ballerina” could be insanely offensive, even vulgar – “young girls wear small bras,” for example – but the lyrics are lighthearted. It is exactly what Ariel does so well. It has a great bass line, and takes the ‘80s thump the previous two records had, and makes it slightly more upbeat. The metal influence in pom pom is frequent; Ariel was after all, despite his pop design, a Goth, and metal fan at a young age. “Four Shadows”, “Negative Ed”, “Sexual Athletics”, and “Goth Bomb” all mimic metal to varying degrees. “Goth Bomb”, displays this, but also parallels a recent song by one of his influences, R. Stevie Moore’s, “Why Can’t I Write a Hit”. “Goth Bomb” goes, “Why can’t I write / Write the words down / ‘Cause I’m a goth bomb.” Which is reminiscent of Moore’s lyrics, “Why can’t I write / Why can’t I compose / Am I ineligible for the gold / It’s no use”
“Jello” is a combination of creative, and recognizable artistry. It is literally an advertisement, the music is ok for what it is, and explodes at the end into a more sports typical advertisements music. There is a little more here than just experimentation though. “Everyone eats white bread / That’s why they’re all dead,” sings Ariel, vulnerably camouflaged in all the amusement. This is what the whole album does: it takes pop, and mushes into the rarely visited twilight zone of cultural fear. “Black Ballerina”, “Lipstick”, “White Freckles”, “Jello”, and “Not Enough Violence” are just a few songs that do that. “Lipstick”, and “White Freckles” are two of the better songs on the album – “Lipstick” for the ethereal ‘80s vibe, despite the aggressive lyrics about murder, “White Freckles” because it takes on the issue of body image for women in a direct, and important way over decent ‘80s keyboard (specifically tanning, and the cancer that comes with it). “Negative Ed”, as previously mentioned is metal influenced; it is spontaneous garage rock in a way previously unseen from Ariel Pink.
“Sexual Athletics” is not really notable for the metal riff, but for the lyrics. It almost lectures, “Sexual athletics, sexual athletics, sexual diversion, don’t call it perversion / And all I wanted was a girlfriend all of my life / But she’s too sexual / Sexual athletics for the lucky ones,” it ponders. “Plastic Raincoats In the Pig Parade”, ‘Exile On Frog Street”, “Not Enough Violence”, and “Four Shadows” will all likely be seen more as a statement, than good music. “Dinosaur Carebears” is not even really worth listening to, there is so little music in it.
In “One Summer Night”, “Nude Beach a Go-Go”, and “Dayzed Inn Daydreams” there is a softer, more romantic, and melodic side of the album. “Dayzed in Daydreams” will probably be the most remembered track from this album. It is a moving ‘90s sounding alternative ballad. Wrenchingly, and rather shockingly the interlude goes, “Like Kurt Cobain / Clap your hands / ‘Cause I’m Kurt Cobain,” which is both fitting, and incredibly depressing. “I used to dream / dream away… / I used to pray / Now I scream / God help me! / No more daydreams,” pom pom ends. The best music relies on expression, and so does this album. It is not perfect, nor the most complete album ever, several songs are not very good. When push comes to shove, Ariel pulls out the expressive artistry, and provocatively delivers.
