Because today is literally the first day of summer, California dreamer Ariel Pink has just decided to announce his eleventh studio album, entitled Dedicated to Bobby Jameson. It’ll be released on September 15 on Mexican Summer, and you can pre-order it now. Not coincidentally, the album is inspired by…Bobby Jameson: an L.A. musician who was presumed dead until 2007, when he suddenly resurfaced after 35 reclusive years to “pen” his autobiography — in the form of blogs and YouTube videos. “His book and life resonated with me to such a degree that I felt a need to dedicate my latest record to him,” Pink tells.
The 13-track Dedicated to Bobby Jameson is, in a sense, a concept album that, according to Pink’s press release, “begins at the end and ends at the beginning.” Pink goes on to explain the record in his own words: “We follow the protagonist through a battery of tests and milestones, the first of which sees him reborn into life out of death. From there, he seesaws his way between the innocent love and the rock-solid edifice of childhood-worn trauma that together constitute his lifelong initiation into the realm of artifice and theatrical disposability.”
The album’s first single, out August 17 (pre-order it here), is the airy and predictably synth-filled “Another Weekend,” for which you can check out the depressingly cheerful video down below. The song marks Pink’s first new solo material since 2014’s pom pom — a record whose glowing prog-pop tracks can, in hindsight, now be seen as pointing toward this fine, summery new material all along — but its jangle-y shuffles belie a shiny new set of regrets from Pink: “Another weekend I can’t rewind/Another day not working for me.” And so it goes. (Happy first miserable day of summer, everyone!)
Dedicated to Bobby Jameson tracklist:
01. Time to Meet Your God
02. Feels Like Heaven
03. Death Patrol
04. Santa’s in The Closet
05. Dedicated to Bobby Jameson
06. Time to Live
07. Another Weekend
08. I Wanna Be Young
09. Bubblegum Dreams
10. Dreamdate Narcissist
11. Kitchen Witch
12. Do Yourself a Favor
13. Acting (feat. Dam-Funk)
Ariel Pink paints North America:
10.13.17 - Joshua Tree, CA - Desert Daze
10.14.17 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
10.15.17 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
10.16.17 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
10.19.17 - Portland, OR - Revolution
10.20.17 - Vancouver, BC - The Venue
10.21.17 - Seattle, WA - Neumos
10.23.17 - Salt Lake City, UT - Metro Music Hall
10.24.17 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
10.26.17 - Minneapolis, MN - Fine Line Music Cafe
10.28.17 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
10.29.17 - Detroit, MI - El Club
10.30.17 - Toronto, ONT - Phoenix
10.31.17 - Montreal, QC - Le National
11.02.17 - Boston, MA - Brighton Music Hall
11.03.17 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
11.04.17 - New York, NY - Le Poisson Rouge
11.05.17 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
11.07.17 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
11.08.17 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina’s
11.10.17 - San Antonio, TX - Paper Tiger
11.11.17 - Dallas, TX - Tree’s
11.12.17 - Austin, TX - Sound on Sound Festival
11.14.17 - Phoenix, AZ - Crescent Ballroom
11.15.17 - Tucson, AZ - 191 Toole
11.16.17 - San Diego, CA - Belly Up
11.17.17 - Los Angeles, CA - TBA