Ariel Pink’s With You Every Night arrives in 2025 as a surprise — an album that’s both familiar and uneasy, shimmering with dreamy synth-pop tones yet haunted. However, this is a masterpiece of modern pop that one can only describe as ARIEL PINK.
From the start, the record leans into nostalgia: washes of reverb, mellow guitar lines, lush synth textures. Tracks like “Life Before Today” stand out as moments where Pink seems to reconnect with his peak—marrying wistfulness and melody. A Sputnikmusic review notes how “Life Before Today … balances dreaminess and power-pop energy” as a highlight. Meanwhile, songs such as “Everyone’s Wrong” and “Off The Dome” evoke the spectral moods of his earlier 4AD/Mexican Summer eras, though operating with a smaller, more intimate scale.
Yet With You Every Night isn’t flawless. Some tracks feel underpowered or “cleaned up” too much — moments where the raw edges that once defined Pink’s aesthetic are softened. On album aggregator sites, listeners mention that while the melodies linger, certain cuts lose tension. Still, there’s a spark here — the sense that Pink, however flawed, can still channel evocative pop into emotional territory.
Rating: 9.5 / 10
This is a grand rebirth. It’s an experimental masterpiece full of splendor and unique sounds.
On Legacy, Controversy & Listening With Care
To celebrate With You Every Night without acknowledging Ariel Pink’s controversial past would feel incomplete. In January 2021, he attended a pro-Trump rally and was dropped by Mexican Summer shortly afterward. His public statements and provocations over years have sparked backlash, debate, and cancellation.
While one cannot gloss over those acts or their consequences, this album invites a more complicated stance: one where art and accountability coexist. Denouncing harmful beliefs or actions is necessary, but erasing the possibility of growth or change isolates us from nuance. Not everyone who stumbles remains beyond redemption, and part of being a listener is wrestling with discomfort, not ignoring it.
In that light, With You Every Night doesn’t demand full forgiveness — but it does pose a question: can we still hear the music, find value, even while acknowledging the wounds?