Ariel Pink is prepping a new album, Dedicated to Bobby Jameson, the third under his own name and first since 2014’s pom pom. The first single he offered, “Another Weekend,” was a gentle folk tune with a swaying psychedelic chorus. Not so with the song he released Tuesday, “Time to Live,” which feature’s a big ‘80s beat and scrapes of lo-fi vocals beneath treacherous waves of synth noise. When the chorus emerges, it’s a burst of sudden clarity for Pink, whose Ian-Curtis-meets-Jay Reatard baritone grounds the proceedings. “We must be vigilant when struggling in this world / you cannot die you have to live, that’s what it’s for,” he sings.
It’s great to hear Pink lean back toward his noisiest tendencies on “Time to Live,” which fades out with some breezy atmospherics and a lightly plucked keyboard. Dedicated to Bobby Jameson is scheduled to drop Sept. 15 on Mexican Summer Records.
