Before Today is the first full-length recording that Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti has made with legendary independent label 4AD.

Pink built his reputation with a series of lo-fi, solo recordings—many of which have not seen wide-scale public distribution—here, however, he has assembled a four-piece band. Despite the changed label and added musicians, Pink’s general approach to music has remained constant—an artist hovering between pop sensibilities and psychedelic experimentation.

Pink’s eclectic sense of humor is clearly on show in the pop elements that spring up throughout the album. “L’Estat” opens with a surf rock swagger, and its chorus is a clear reference to The Beatles’ “She Loves You.” “Can’t Hear My Eyes” borders on being an R&B ballad—not to mention the “na-na-na-na” chorus that opens the disco beat of “Round and Round.”

What makes these elements so uniquely effective is their seamless interweaving with far–out psychedelia. On “Butt House Blondes,” for example, the vocals leading into the chorus are distorted into a spacey warble—the chorus itself is completely consumed by a fuzz of guitars. And while there are hints of noise and delirium throughout the album, they are also filtered through this ethereal fog. In fact, the low point of the album (the penultimate “Menopause Man”) suffers because the haze lets up: without it, the vocals are oddly bare and noticeably off-key.

On a whole, however, Before Today is a pleasant journey through psychedelic smog, an airy head-trip with little of the dreariness that might drag the listener down into a paranoid slump. It’s not an aggressive album—it’s just as likely to melt into your surroundings as shake you out of your seat. Instead, Ariel Pink’s Haunted Graffiti have created an enchanted, upbeat doldrums where you can get yourself lost for three-quarters of an hour.