This Is Our Jam: Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti, “Only In My Dreams”

We would say you should get very excited for new music from Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, but of course you’ve already heard it a thousand times before: On oldies stations, in the supermarket, over movie credits, from the speakers of passing convertibles. As much as anything he’s released before, “Only In My Dreams” crystallizes Ariel Pink’s uncanny ability to channel the music of our collective past. It’s as if Ariel Pink has simply stepped outside, floral garland on his head and armed with a butterfly net, to scoop up the lost melodies of ‘60s. Lyrics like “Only in my dreams she’ll be right there next to me” say as much as they need to. If you're going to make music this purposefully naive – a nearly contradictory, and deceptively difficult task – then it’s better to sing a tune we already know. Now all we have to do is hum along.