Pink Mountaintops
The Pink Mountaintops

While waiting for the new album, which will be released next month, a few words about the debut of Pink Mountaintops, dated 2004, should be said. Meanwhile, Stephen McBean, with Black Mountain, of which he is also a leader, has achieved the recognition he deserves. In theory, this would be his so-called side-project, but due to bizarre, almost Dickian, twists of time, it actually came before the group that became more famous. Since I imagine most of you know him for his work with the "Black Mountain," it is necessary to immediately highlight the differences between the two bands.

First of all, Pink Mountaintops is an open collective, collaborating with many musicians from Vancouver and surrounding areas, as well as others associated with the Jagjaguwar label, while the other is a complete band. As much as the latter seems to have found the center of gravity in the latest "In The Future" with somewhat monolithic and solid hard rock, the ones being reviewed here today are free-form and deconstructed. An example that seems to me to be crystal clear: try immersing yourself in "I (Fuck) Mountains." Knowing Black Mountain and their certain devotion to Black Sabbath, what comes to mind? Do I guess correctly by saying "Planet Caravan"? Music for the mind, whose flow in a dreamlike dimension captivates.

I am especially intrigued by them, the combination of reminiscences of certain sixties psychedelia and the anxiety of what England was at the beginning of the '80s. Doesn't the opener "Bad Boogie Ballin'" seem like a Grateful Dead cover played by the early Human League or John Foxx? Who could have imagined such a crossover? Unfortunately, Pink Mountaintops don't develop this inclination much and often indulge in modernity, but always with a taste that seems few have around.

Another great love of McBean is undoubtedly the Velvet, whose moods and hypotheses of clanking guitars infect the entire final part of the album. Here, towards the end, comes what I consider an absolute gem, namely the cover of "Atmosphere". Yes, the one by Joy Division. Played as if it were "I'm Waiting for the Man". With an obsessive and restrained rhythm, the alluring and lascivious voice, the monotonous and repetitive choruses. And the thought cannot help but run to that "Sister Ray" played by the Manchester group on April 2, 1980, just days after recording "Atmosphere." And here, it can indeed be said, the circle closes.