Last year, Doldrums, originally a handmade CD-R was re-released on Paw Tracks. Ariel Pink (real name Rosenberg) is in his late twenties and has been making music for years, deciding to do everything himself. Guitars, keys, samples, bass, voices, samples he takes charge of everything, drum sounds and percussion included although he never uses a drumkit, favouring… his mouth! He is said to have recorded more than 500 songs already so we haven’t heard the last of him.

But do we actually want to hear his music? To cut a long story short, yes. I mean, you don’t get CD’s like this one everyday –and it’s better that way, mind you-: a weird mix of very corny commercial pop from the 70’s, a little bit of indie-rock, 80’s songs, beach Boys’ influences, odd sounds, and on top of that a very, very, very homemade production: the sound is very blurry, which adds to the fun but might as well annoy.

What is undeniable is that Ariel is a great composer. No, really. Seldom have I heard songs that sounded so familiar, songs that I instantly knew by heart as if I had heard them all my life. So you come to wonder what would he do if he was to record in a high-tech studio, and if he was to stick to “normal” song structures. I’m sure the recorded CD would be full of astounding songs, but I’m even more certain that I would miss the originality of his actual material. You don’t often get to listen to an album that is so distinctly unique, almost out of this worldly.

But things are not really perfect: the album is way too long (more than 70 minutes), and the poor sound gets boring after a while. I’m sure that, without giving up on his DIY aesthetic, a more restrained Ariel Pink would be a much, much better thing.