Album Reviews

Album Reviews: Outside Love by The Pink Mountaintops

Pink Mountaintops is considered a side-project of Stephen McBean’s main group, psych-rock act Black Mountain. But maybe it shouldn’t be. Outside Love is the third offering from McBean’s hodge-podge of musicians, and it's billed as dramatic in scope "like a Danielle Steele novel." And that's not far off; McBean teams with Black Mountain vocalist Amber Webber for most of the record, offering a spit for spat, impassioned take on relationships. And like a tumultuous affair, the music drifts into different spacial territories, this time more acoustic and melodic; something that the long, guitar sprawl of Black Mountain can’t do. For example, the gorgeous, string lined “Vampire” and “Holiday” channel a southern, Neil Young vibe, yet openers “Axis: Thrones of Love” and “Execution” draw on more fuzzed out, guitar pop arrangements.

For those clamoring for the rock, Outside Love gets that going too at times. The fast, chuggy Sonic Youth-ish “The Gayest of Sunbeams” and the six minute plus “And I Thank You” both retain those elements that Black Mountain fans have come to love. And although there’s a tongue-and-cheek-ness to the whole love story premise, overall, those qualities are masked in song craftsmanship, perfect for those long, steamy summer nights.

—Michael D. Ayers
05.17.09