Outside Love
Stephen McBean plays coarse, guitar-powered rock with Black Mountain and fuzzy, psychedelic pop with Pink Mountaintops. He approaches each with equal affection and this third PM collection is packed with fleeting moments of hazy, lazy pop where angelic choirs roll down the hills where someone’s been hiding their Pink Floyd and Jesus and Mary Chain albums. The easy coasting rhythms lend themselves to classy embellishments where keyboards and guitars gracefully flirt over the surfaces. “Axis: Thrones of Love,” “Execution,” and the creepy pulse of “Outside Love” take their ‘60s roots and tweak them with the shoegazer polish of the early ‘90s without directly quoting either. “While We Were Dreaming” casts a line towards the Flaming Lips’ mellow end, the vocals drifting to the skies with a dreamer’s ear for melody and falsetto. The overall effect is indeed “trippy” and timeless, adhering to a tradition in alternative rock established by the likes of the Flaming Lips, Mercury Rev, and other keepers of the lysergic renaissance.
"Outside Love" is ten songs of love and hate that read like a Danielle Steele romance novel but that would probably make for bad television. "Outside Love" is the third album by Pink Mountaintops, AKA Stephen McBean, who has slowly emerged as a distinctive voice and a very special contributor to the North American songbook. A veteran of the Vancouver/Victoria punk rock scene, McBean is best known for his contributions to acclaimed rock band Black Mountain, as principal songwriter, guitarist and co-vocalist.
Side project of Black Mountain's Stephen McBean this time includes contributions from members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Jackie O Motherfucker.
A valentine “for the hunters and the hunted / and the wild and the hoods and the thieves,” Outside Love—in its portrayal of a world where the honesty of lust is as beautiful as the purest of hearts—feels like gospel music for non-believers. A bit more raucous and a hell of a lot more cohesive than 2006’s Axis of Evol, …
Pink Mountaintops' previous release, the rather lo-fi Axis of Evol, felt a bit like Stephen McBean's tossed-off side project, but Outside Love sounds much more fully developed, reaching heights every bit as breathtaking as his main band, Black Mountain.
10 guitar-driven tracks, ranging from noisy upbeat rockers, to ballads and epic-pop tracks...Alongside being the leading force in Black Mountain, Stephen McBean has found time to release his third album under the Pink Mountaintops pseudonym.