Ariel Pink

Born out of an obsessive need to create, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti spins vintage pop and avant-garde influences into 21st-century indie gold. The experimental project of Ariel Pink (born Ariel Marcus Rosenberg in 1978) took shape during the singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist’s high school years in Beverly Hills, when he began laying down crude recordings with any instrument and everyday utensil he could get his hands on. While at art school, he began to release music under the name Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, including 2000’s The Doldrums, a lo-fi collection of hazy, hypnotic confections rooted in '60s and '70s pop. By the mid-2000s, Pink had recorded hundreds of songs, released over a half-dozen albums, and built up a loyal underground following—all without ever setting foot in a professional recording studio. That changed for Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti’s 2010 4AD debut, Before Today, and his 2012 followup, Mature Themes, a pair of beguiling psych-pop albums that exude smooth retro cool, thanks in part to the help of a full band. While Ariel Pink would drop the “Haunted Graffiti” from his name soon after, he has continued to refine his wry, warped take on classic sounds.