Our Only Hope Is Another Human

Upon the release of his group’s newest album, Mature Themes, the follow up to 2010’s genre-breaking Before Today (which saw the formerly lo fi hypnagogic artist transform into a 1970s West Coast rocker), Ariel Pink has been doing the publicity rounds, stopping at places large and small(er). The most entertaining interview I’ve come across is at Dummy, where Pink has much to say on the topic of retromania, a topic through which much of his music has been critically filtered.

I should end the era. That was then and this is now. Now we’re living permanently in retromania – it’s the kind of thing that happens when something’s been around for too long. It’s like the fall of the Roman Empire or something like that. The future-ness of our culture has sort of been our proof that we’re the way – innovation and all those things, forging ahead and then, y’know, and having a good economy on top of that – it’s always been like, this is the way – obviously…We sort of bubble up to the surface all of a sudden as a viable alternative for the future [giggles] and that’s the irony, since I’m such a music appreciator and kind of like to point out things from different eras that are historically relevant, maybe we can live another day in this rock and roll world and push it, delay the end a little bit more.

Published on 20 August 2012

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